It's been almost exactly one year since a bolide exploded in the air over Chelyabinsk in Russia. Just in time for the anniversary comes asteroid 2000 EM26, which will be giving our planet a close shave today. The Slooh space camera consortium will be tracking this cosmic flyby during a live show starting at 6 p.m. PT/9 p.m. ET.
The Chelyabinsk meteor surprised everyone when it came in over Russia. All eyes were instead focused on the arrival of super-close asteroid 2012 DA14, which was passing within 27,000 kilometers of our planet, inside the orbit of some satellites. Today's asteroid won't be repeating this intimacy, coming in 3.5 million kilometers at its closest approach, or a bit more than nine times the Earth-moon distance. With a diameter of 270 meters, or about three football fields, it is larger than both 2012 DA14 and the Chelyabinsk meteor but has no chance of hitting our planet. Still, it seems a fitting way to remember that strange day a year ago when an asteroid double-whammy shocked the world.
Commemorating the Chelyabinsk anniversary, the Russian government will hand out ten gold medals at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics embedded with Chelyabinsk meteor fragments on February 15th. Slooh's show will discuss these events, both astronomical and earthly, during their show and provide information and awesome views of asteroid 2000 EM26.
Video: Slooh
