Asteroid 1997NC1
Taken by PAOLO PALMA on June 24, 2026 @
Rome, Italy
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Details:
In the nights leading up to Asteroid Day, asteroid 1997NC1 will pass within approximately 2.5 million kilometres of Earth.
It is so far away that we have nothing to fear, even though it is classified as a potentially hazardous asteroid, yet so close that it will be visible even through small telescopes.
I observed and photographed it over the last two nights as it streaked past at over 32000 km/h not far from 14 Cygni and NGC 6791.
With a magnitude of around 12th, it was easily visible through my 18-inch Dobsonian telescope despite being in the city. And it was even more wonderful to be able to track its movement amongst the faint stars of the Milky Way, even just a few minutes apart. In fact, it took only a few tens of seconds to notice its movement without any difficulty.
On the night of 27–28 June, it will approach the 10th magnitude and will be even faster and easier to track: it hasn’t been this close to Earth for over a century, and won’t be again for another century.
So, given that events like this occur on average only once every 10 years, it’s definitely worth taking a look at this ‘insignificant little dot’ in the night sky that’s paying us a visit.
Single shots taken with an Huawei p30 pro at the dobson 18" with 95x.
Photographer's website:
https://www.unsaltonelcielo.it
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