A large asteroid will safely zoom between Earth and the Moon on Saturday, a once-in-a-decade event that will be used as a training exercise for planetary defense efforts, according to the European Space Agency.
on Saturday, a once-in-a-decade event that will be used as a training exercise for planetary defense efforts, according to the European Space Agency.
At 19:49 GMT on Saturday, it will come within a third of the distance from the Earth to the Moon, said Richard Moissl, the head of the ESA's planetary defense office.Small asteroids fly past every day, but one of this size coming so close to Earth only happens around once every 10 years, he added. An observatory in La Palma, one of Spain's Canary Islands, first spotted the asteroid on February 27.
That means astronomers around the world will analyze the asteroid with a range of instruments, such as spectrometers and radars.
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