An asteroid, designated 2004 BL86 by NASA, will pass by the Earth safely today. From the asteroid’s reflected brightness, astronomers estimate it to be about a third of a mile in size.

The flyby will be the closest of any known asteroid this large until 2027. At the time of it’s closest approach, it will be approximately 745,000 miles from Earth.

“While it poses no threat to Earth for the foreseeable future, it’s a relatively close approach by a relatively large asteroid, so it provides us a unique opportunity to observe and learn more,” said Don Yeomans, retiring manager of NASA’s Near Earth Object Program office in Pasadena, CA.

The asteroid is expected to be observable to amateur astronomers with small telescopes and strong binoculars at 11:19 a.m. EST today. It will not be visible to the naked eye.

NASA’s Deep Space Network antenna in Goldstone, CA, and the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico will attempt to acquire science data and radar images of the asteroid while it is close to Earth.

“At present, we know almost nothing about the asteroid, so there are bound to be surprises,” stated radar astronomer Lance Benner of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Asteroid 2004 BL86 was initially discovered Jan. 30, 2004, by a telescope of the Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research survey in White Sands, NM.

Source: NASA