Watch February 15 asteroid flyby online, in real-time

Close-passing asteroid 2012 DA14 won’t be visible to the eye. But observatories will capture the event, and some will broadcast online.

When small asteroid 2012 DA14 passes within 17,200 miles (within 28,000 kilometers) of Earth on February 15, you won’t be able to see the asteroid with the eye alone. But astronomical observatories with large telescopes will be sure to capture it in photos and on video, and some will be broadcasting online. We’ll be posting links to public viewings of the event here, starting with the two below. We’ll add more as we receive them. Remember, the asteroid flyby is Friday, February 15, 2013.

Clay Center Observatory will offer real-time high-definition video, weather permitting, from 6 p.m. EST (22:00 UTC) until 4 a.m. the next morning (9:00 UTC on February 16). The video feed can be freely accessed worldwide via Clay Center Observatory’s Ustream channel. The observatory has also set up a countdown clock to show how much time remains until the tracking begins.

Slooh Space Camera will surely be tracking the asteroid, too. It hasn’t released info about its plans yet, but it would be surprising if they did not try to capture this event. Visit Slooh’s event page for a possible asteroid 2012 DA14 online event, as the date approaches.

Bottom line: Check back here occasionally for links to online viewing of the near-Earth asteroid, close-passing 2012 DA14.

- Earth Sky