Look up! Huge asteroid (7482) 1994 PC1 race by Earth at 43,000 miles per hour

A large stony asteroid safely pass Earth today January 18, 2022. Its estimated size is around 3,280 feet (about 1 km or .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. It is classified as a Potentially Hazardous Asteroid due to its size and relatively close flybys of our planet. An asteroid of this size strikes Earth approximately every 600,000 years. But we have nothing to fear from 1994 PC1 at its 2022 close approach. And … a plus … amateur astronomers with backyard telescopes might catch a glimpse of it as it sweeps past.

1994 PC1 orbits the Sun at a distance of 0.9–1.8 AU once every 1 years and 7 months (572 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.33 and an inclination of 33° with respect to the ecliptic.

On 17 January 1933, it passed 811,350 km (504,150 mi) from the Moon and then about a hour later made its closest known approach to Earth of 1,125,400 km (699,300 mi). On 18 January 2022, it will pass about 1,981,468 km (1,231,227 mi) from Earth.

Robert McNaught discovered asteroid (7482) 1994 PC1 at the Siding Spring Observatory in Australia on August 9, 1994. With its trajectory in hand, astronomers found the space rock on earlier images from other observations that date back to September 1974. With 47 years of observations, its orbit is well established.

The huge space rock is traveling at 43,754 miles per hour (19.56 kilometers per second) relative to Earth. The considerable speed will enable amateur astronomers to spot the fast asteroid. It will appear as a point of light, similar to a star, passing in front of background stars over the course of the evening. Asteroid (7482) 1994 PC1 will shine at around magnitude 10. An object at 10th magnitude is a decent target for observers using a 6-inch or larger backyard telescope from a dark-sky site.