REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA - Indonesia is the best place to watch asteroid 2012 DA14 approaching the earth on Saturday morning.
"The best place to see the asteroid is in Indonesia as it passes southern sky," Deputy of Science, Research and Aerospace Information at National Institute of Aeronautics and Space (Lapan), Thomas Djamaluddin, said on Friday.
The asteroid will reflect sunlight on Saturday, February 16, at 02.26 Western Indonesian Time.
The asteroid will approach the earth from 21,000 kilometers in distance. That is the closest shave ever for an asteroid the size of 2012 DA14, which is about 45 meters in diameter. However, the asteroid will not hit the earth.
Yet, Djamaluddin predicts that in the next 97 years, or in February 16, 2110, the asteroid will hit the earth just like Tunguska event in Siberia, Russia, and flattened 2,000 kilometers square of forest.
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