"Asteroid 2012 DA14" Coming Close to Earth 16 Feb - Astronomy Session

A asteroid (ग्रहिका in Hindi / గృహశకలం ) called "2012 DA14" will flyby earth at distance of 27,700 km (above the surface of  Earth) on 16^th February at 12:54 a.m. IST.  Size of this asteroid is estimated to be 45 meters (147 Feet). And it’s moving at speed of 7.8 km/sec. This asteroid was discovered on February 23, 2012 in Spain. However there is no chance of this space rock hitting Earth or Moon now or in near future. 

Other Details of the ASTEROID 2012 DA14:

Presently it orbits Sun once in 368 Days due to present encounter it will reduce to 317 days.

The next time it will have closest approach is in 15^th February 2019 and would be at 6,91,64,078 km i.e. around 7 Crore Km. Whereas it will be this close to earth in year 2046 on 16 February at distance of 66,608km. The  last time it came close was on 16^th February 2012 and was at 26,06,840 km i.e. 26 Lakh Km. Presently this is an object for fear mongering by some doomsayers on the web.

Not visible to Naked Eye – Telescopes: on day of its closest approach it will shine at 8 Magnitude. And Healthy human eye can see up to max. 6 Magnitude objects in sky. Hence this asteroid is not visible to naked eye but can be spotted with help of Astronomical Telescopes. The best viewing location for the closest approach will be Indonesia. Eastern Europe, Asia and Australia are also well situated to see the asteroid.