The White House And Bill Nye Want You to Come Watch This Huge Asteroid Zip by Earth
The asteroid passes by tomorrow afternoon, and the White House has a pre-game show starting at 2 Eastern
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Look how close it is! Photo: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Tomorrow afternoon, the giant asteroid 1998 QE2 will shoot by the Earth. The asteroid is roughly 1.7 miles wide, says NASA, and will pass by around 3.6 million miles away—15 times the distance from us to the Moon. But Friday’s afternoon approach will be the closest this little rock will be to our somewhat bigger rock for the next two hundred years.
The White House, hip to generational fear-of-missing-out anxieties, is ramping up to make this an asteroid-pass to remember. (Just think: Two hundred years. This is your only chance to see this.) As part of their ongoing We the Geeks campaign, the leaders of the free world are orchestrating a live Google Plus hangout to talk about the asteroid. Lori Garver, the deputy administrator of NASA, will be there, as will Peter Diamandis, the co-founder of a company that wants to start mining asteroids for minerals. So will Bill Nye the Science Guy. You can’t miss this chance to hang out with Bill Nye. (Can you? N0.)
According to NASA, the asteroid will make its close pass at 4:59 pm Eastern, 1:59 pm Pacific. The White House’s pre-game show kicks off at 2 pm Eastern, 11 am Pacific.
More from Smithsonian.com:
NASA Wants to Drag an Asteroid Into Orbit Around the Moon
Giant Paintball Gun Could Save the World From Death-by-Asteroid
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