NASA to Cover Asteroid Flyby Live

An asteroid flying toward Earth is the plot for a harrowing disaster film, but on Friday it will actually be true.

While the 2012 DA14 asteroid headed our way will not hit Earth, the speeding 150-foot diameter object is anticipated to fly 17,200 miles above Earth’s surface at the closest point, making it “the closest-ever predicted approach to Earth for an object this large,” according to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory website.

NASA Television will provide commentary from Pasadena-based JPL starting at 11 a.m. Friday during the asteroid’s nearby flight and the half-hour broadcast will also include live or near real-time views of the asteroid from Australia observatories, weather permitting, JPL noted.

The commentary can be seen streaming live starting at 11 a.m. Friday in the attached live video coverage, which can also be found here:http://www.ustream.tv/nasajpl2 or by going to: http://www.nasa.gov/ntv

Watch the Asteroid Via NASA

Near real-time imagery of the asteroid's flyby in Australia and Europe, weather permitting, will be streamed beginning at about 9 a.m. PST and continuing through the afternoon at:

http://www.ustream.tv/nasajpl2 

To watch a feed of the flyby from a telescope at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. starting at 6 p.m. PST go to:

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/nasa-msfc

Researchers at NASA and elsewhere will be using the flyby as a chance to study a near-Earth object up close in an effort to understand our solar system’s origins, among other things, NASA noted.

For more information, go here.