Our charts below show reference stars in the asteroid’s vicinity on January 18, 2022. Then he pointed the camera and telescope at reference stars in the trajectory of the asteroid. He attached a camera to the telescope and took time-exposures of several seconds. Steven Bellavia, who created the video at the top of this post, used another good technique for spotting the asteroid. When an asteroid such as this passes close to fixed background stars, its movement is more noticeable. They were able to detect the space rock’s motion thanks to its size and proximity. For North America, observers with backyard telescopes had the best opportunity to see the huge asteroid hours after the January 18 close approach (see charts below). Sky enthusiasts using a small telescope pointed at the correct time and location were able to spot asteroid (7482) 1994 PC1. Illustration by Eddie Irizarry/ Stellarium. Asteroid (7482) 1994 PC1 was in the constellation Pisces on January 18, 2022, the night of closest approach to Earth. See a video comparing the sizes of some of the known asteroids. An object at 10th magnitude is a decent target for observers using a 6-inch or larger backyard telescope from a dark-sky site. Asteroid (7482) 1994 PC1 was shining in our sky at around magnitude 10. It appeared as a point of light, similar to a star, passing in front of background stars over the course of the evening.

The considerable speed enabled amateur astronomers to spot the fast asteroid. The huge space rock is traveling at 43,754 miles per hour (19.56 kilometers per second) relative to Earth. With 47 years of observations, its orbit is well established. With its trajectory in hand, astronomers found the space rock on earlier images from other observations that date back to September 1974. Robert McNaught discovered asteroid (7482) 1994 PC1 at the Siding Spring Observatory in Australia on August 9, 1994. Orbit of large asteroid 1994 PC1, via Tomruen/ Wikimedia Commons. Image via Sormano Astronomical Observatory in Italy. The space rock appears as a trail due to its very fast apparent motion. Here’s an image of asteroid (7482) 1994 PC1 during a flyby of Earth in 1997. It displays a hint of yellow-golden color.” Thank you, Greg!Īsteroid (7482) 1994 PC1 passing close to Earth on January 18, 2022, by Kevin Cintron (Sociedad de Astronomía del Caribe), from Ponce, Puerto Rico. He wrote: “1994 P1 was visible in my eVscope 2.0 as a stellar-looking object and showed movement in timed exposures almost immediately. | Greg Redfern in Virginia also caught asteroid 1994 PC1 on the night of January 18, 2022. Your purchase helps EarthSky bring you news of your cosmos and world. The speeding asteroid passed 1.2 million miles (1.93 million km) from Earth, or about 5.15 times the Earth-moon distance. That’s a very safe distance!ĮarthSky’s 2022 lunar calendars are available now! Get one while you can.

EST (21:51 UTC). This approach was the closest for this asteroid for at least the next 200 years for which astronomers have calculated its orbit. Closest approach to Earth occurred on January 18, 2022, at 4:51 p.m. An asteroid of this size strikes Earth approximately every 600,000 years.īut we had nothing to fear from 1994 PC1 at its 2022 close approach. It is classified as a Potentially Hazardous Asteroid due to its size and relatively close flybys of our planet. 6 of a mile), around 2 1/2 times the height of the Empire State Building. As you can see from this asteroid’s label – (7482) 1994 PC1 – we’ve known about it since 1994. Its estimated size was around 3,280 feet (about 1 km or. He gathered over 500 frames for over an hour to create a 30-second time lapse of the passage of asteroid 1994 PC1 near Earth on January 18, 2022.Ī large stony asteroid safely passed Earth on January 18, 2022. Our thanks to EarthSky community member Steven Bellavia for sharing the video above.

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