Asteroid to pass by Earth

An asteroid that's roughly 150 feet long will pass by Earth on Feb. 15.

While the asteroid poses no risk to human life it's still an amazing happening. The giant piece of space rock is roughly half a city block or the diameter of the Hindenburg zeppelin, according to Techhive.com . The website says is weighs approximately 1/45 as much as the annual potato output of Idaho in a year

Sadly for stargazes, the celestial event won’t be visible from Cincinnati. Even with a mammoth telescope like the one at the Cincinnati Observatory Asteroid 2012 DA14 won’t be visible at all in North America.

However Dean Regas with the Cincinnati Observatory told 9 On Your Side that astronomers from around the world will be tracking the giant asteroid as it passes close above the Earth’s atmosphere.

“Is it going to hit us? No way. It's not even going to be close. Well OK, 17,000 miles is still pretty close especially since the moon is 240,000 miles away. So, this is going to be the closest thing to the earth for a short period."

The Cincinnati Observatory will host a special Moon Day on Feb. 18 from 7-9 during which they’ll share images of the asteroid’s brush past the Earth. That's also the night of the next Moon-Jupiter conjunction.

For more information on the asteroid and the Cincinnati Observatory visit the following link.