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Originally Posted by By Elissa Steedman, ABC

Two large asteroids are safely passing Earth this week. They are:

2011 UL21
2024 MK
The occurrence is especially notable for astronomers because 2024 MK was only discovered on June 16.

2011 UL21 was closest to Earth earlier this morning, with a distance of 6,634,279 kilometres.

That's about 17 times further than the Moon, according to the European Space Agency.

This is the asteroid's closest orbit since it was first discovered in October 2011.

Meanwhile, 2024 MK will approach Earth at a distance of about 290,000 kilometres late Saturday.

At that stage, it will be pass nearer to Earth than the Moon.

Headlines have described 2011 UL21 as 'mountain-sized' and a 'planet killer'.

That's because the space rock is 2.3 kilometres wide, which makes it larger than most near-Earth objects.

2024 MK is a fair bit smaller.

Its diameter is believed to be between 122 and 256 metres.

While that sounds quite little in comparison to 2011 UL21, both would have the capacity to do quite a lot of damage if they were ever to strike Earth.


While both will be most visible for Australian stargazers tonight, you won't be able to see them without some help.

A small telescope will be needed to get a good view.

If you don't have one handy, Dr Lance A M Benner at the California Institute of Technology's Jet Propulsion Laboratory suggested binoculars could be enough to spot 2024 MK from areas with dark skies.

You can check where to look for UL21 in the night sky via In-The-Sky.org, an astronomy project run by European Space Agency data scientist Dominic Ford.

Meanwhile, The Sky Live is tracking 2024 MK, so you can find guides on where to look there.

If you miss the asteroids tonight, the Virtual Telescope Project will livestream a visual feed of 2024 MK early Sunday morning.

The team has already run a similar stream, sharing the view of UL21 from the Bellatrix Astronomical Observatory in Ceccano, Italy.

Story here :-
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-06-...week/104034960