Harmless Asteroid Flyby
Large Harmless Asteroid 1997 NC1 Will Safely Pass Earth This Weekend, Visible in Sky
A mountain-sized asteroid will zip safely past Earth this weekend, passing within 1.6 million miles — roughly 6.7 times the distance to the Moon. The space rock, called 1997 NC1, is estimated to be between 2,461 feet and 5,413 feet wide, making it one of the largest asteroids to pass this close in years, according to Associated Press.
Scientists say there is zero chance of impact. Still, the flyby is being called a rare scientific opportunity. NASA is using radar dishes in California to study the asteroid's size, shape, and spin. The next time 1997 NC1 gets this close to Earth will be in the year 2133, Associated Press reports.
Closest Approach Happens Saturday Morning at Dawn
The asteroid will reach its nearest point to Earth on June 27, 2026, between 7:14 AM and 7:16 AM EDT. At that moment, it will be about 1,590,375 miles away, traveling at roughly 19,879 mph — nearly 5.6 miles per second, according to Space.com. That speed is fast enough to cross the entire United States in under ten minutes.
The last time a rock this size passed this close was in January 2022, when asteroid 1994 PC1 came within 1.23 million miles of Earth, according to EarthSky. Before that, scientists did not have radar tools good enough to study such flybys in detail. This weekend's pass is being called the closest approach by 1997 NC1 in roughly four centuries.
How to Watch the Asteroid From Your Backyard
Amateur astronomers with a 4-inch telescope can spot the asteroid when it reaches peak brightness on June 28. It will hit magnitude 10.1, which is too faint for the naked eye but well within range of a basic hobbyist scope, according to Forbes. The asteroid will look like a slow-moving dot drifting against background stars.
The Virtual Telescope Project is streaming the flyby live. Founder Gianluca Masi said the event is "a very important and interesting opportunity," adding that "an asteroid of this size comes this close roughly once every ten years," according to Space.com. The first stream started June 26 at 7:00 PM EDT. One warning: a bright Moon nearby may make viewing harder.
NASA Radar Will Finally Reveal the Asteroid's True Size
Scientists have tracked 1997 NC1 since its discovery on July 5, 1997, by the NEAT program at Haleakalā Observatory in Hawaii. But key facts remain unknown — including the asteroid's exact size, shape, and how fast it spins. NASA's Goldstone radar in California began observation sessions on June 24 to fill in those gaps, according to NASA JPL.
The radar work is especially important because scientists disagree on what the asteroid is made of. It has been classified as three different rock types — B-type, S-type, and Q-type — at different times. Getting that right matters for understanding how sunlight slowly pushes the rock over decades, which affects long-term orbit predictions, Forbes reports.
"Potentially Hazardous" Label Does Not Mean Danger
1997 NC1 carries the official label "Potentially Hazardous Asteroid," or PHA. That title simply means the rock is larger than 140 meters and passes within 4.6 million miles of Earth's orbit. It does not mean a crash is coming. ESA's Juan Luis Cano explained: "A close approach to Earth by an object this size only occurs every few years," according to Popular Science.
For scale, 1997 NC1 is about 60 times wider than the Chelyabinsk meteor that exploded over Russia in 2013, shattering windows across six cities. An impact from a rock this size would be "civilization-altering," scientists say. But with 1.6 million miles of buffer, NASA Ambassador Tony Rice stressed there is "no cause for alarm" — just a once-in-a-generation chance to watch planetary defense science in action, according to WRAL.
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