"Live: Watch Airplane-Size Asteroid's Close Encounter with Earth and Moon Today"
Astronomers discovered asteroid 2024 BJ earlier this month, and it will pass between Earth and the moon on January 27. The 121-foot-wide space rock will fly by Earth at a distance closer than the moon, reaching its closest point at 12:30 p.m. EST. The Virtual Telescope Project will livestream the event, and the asteroid is not considered hazardous. Scientists have plans in place to deal with potential Earth-threatening asteroids, but such a scenario is not expected in the next 1,000 years.