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Websites provide a window for watching an asteroid whiz by

2012 QG42 due to make closest approach on Thursday; tune it in online

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Gianluca Masi / Virtual Telescope Project
This image shows the asteroid 2012 QG42 in the crosshairs on Sept. 6, as seen using the Planewave 17-inch telescope, part of the Virtual Telescope Project. The telescope was tracking the fast apparent motion of the asteroid against the background of distant stars, which show up as streaks in this image.
updated 9/12/2012 11:13:27 PM ET 2012-09-13T03:13:27

A newfound asteroid that may be the size of three football fields will whiz by Earth on Thursday, and you can watch the close encounter live online.

Asteroid 2012 QG42 is between 625 feet and 1,400 feet wide (190 to 430 meters) and was first spotted by scientists last month. Researchers say the space rock has no chance of hitting Earth when it makes its closest approach on Thursday.

The asteroid will pass by at a safe distance of about 7.5 times the Earth-moon distance. The moon is, on average, about 238,000 miles from Earth.

Asteroid 2012 QG42 is, however, listed as a "potentially hazardous asteroid" by the Minor Planet Center at Cambridge, Mass., meaning it may pose a threat in the future.

At least two online observatories are tracking the asteroid's pass by Earth.

The Virtual Telescope Project, run by astronomer Gianluca Masi in Italy, is providing a live video stream here: http://www.virtualtelescope.eu/webtv/

The project has been tracking asteroid 2012 QG42 since last week and posting images online.

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On Thursday, the Slooh Space Camera night sky observing website will provide a live view of asteroid 2012 QG42's closest approach in a webcast starting at 7 p.m. ET, offering views from at least one of its telescopes at its observatory in the Canary Islands, off the west coast of Africa. You can tune into the Slooh webcast by visiting the group's website here: http://www.slooh.com

Asteroid 2012 QG42's flyby comes a few months after another recently discovered space rock, asteroid 2012 LZ1, made a close approach to Earth.

"Near Earth Objects have been whizzing past us lately, undetected until they have been practically on top of us. This illustrates the need for continued and improved monitoring for our own future safety," Bob Berman, a Slooh editor and Astronomy Magazine columnist, said in a statement. "It is not a question of if, but when such an object will hit us, and how large and fast it may be going."

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Berman added that to observe near-Earth asteroids like the one passing by on Thursday "provides instruction and perhaps motivation to keep up our guard, as well as a sense of relief as it speeds safely past at a mere one-fifteenth the distance to the nearest planets."

Berman will join Slooh president Patrick Paolucci and Slooh engineer Paul Cox to provide commentary during the organization's webcast.

Follow Space.com on Twitter @Spacedotcom. We're also on Facebook and Google+.

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Interactive: Below the belt

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Photos: Month in Space: April 2013

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  2. Horsehead of a different color

    The Horsehead Nebula takes on an eerie glow in an infrared image from the Hubble Space Telescope. This picture, released April 21, marks the 23rd anniversary of the famous observatory's launch in 1990 aboard the space shuttle Discovery. (NASA / ESA / Hubble Heritage Team via EPA) Back to slideshow navigation
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  3. Tight quarters

    Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano (right), NASA astronaut Karen Nyberg (left) and Russian cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin get their picture taken inside a Soyuz capsule simulator during a training exercise at Russia's Star City complex outside Moscow on April 26. The three spacefliers are scheduled to head for the International Space Station in May. (Sergei Remezov / Reuters) Back to slideshow navigation

  4. Blazing sun

    This full-disk view of the sun was captured by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory on April 11, during the strongest solar flare yet seen in 2013. The colors reflect the intensity of emissions in extreme ultraviolet wavelengths. (NASA / SDO) Back to slideshow navigation
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  5. Evil eye

    Mountain ridges near San Alberto in Mexico look like a reptilian eye in this view from the International Space Station. Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield uses a different metaphor: "A Dali watch on an alligator wristband." The picture was taken on April 15 and shared via social media on April 25. (Commander Chris Hadfield / Canadian Space Agency) Back to slideshow navigation

  6. Russian rocket's red glare

    A Russian Soyuz rocket blasts away from its launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on March 29, sending NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy and Russian crewmates Pavel Vinogradov and Alexander Misurkin toward the International Space Station for their six-month orbital tour of duty. (Sergei Ilnitsky / EPA) Back to slideshow navigation

  7. Fun with rockets

    Children hold self-made rocket models during a show in front of the Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg, Russia, on April 14. The gathering was part of the festivities surrounding Cosmonautics Day on April 12. The Russian holiday marks the anniversary of Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin's historic spaceflight in 1961 - an occasion marked in other countries as "Yuri's Night." (Alexander Demianchuk / Reuters) Back to slideshow navigation

  8. Strokes in the Sahara

    Geological formations take on an alien look in a picture of the southern Sahara in Mauritania, taken on March 19 from the International Space Station and shared via social media on April 24. Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield calls the scene "effortless natural art." (Commander Chris Hadfield / Canadian Space Agency) Back to slideshow navigation

  9. Stars in the cloud

    This glittering picture shows X-ray emissions from young sunlike stars in the "wing" of the Small Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy associated with the larger Milky Way. The Small Magellanic Cloud lies about 180,000 light-years from Earth. In this April 4 picture, readings from the Chandra X-ray Observatory are shown in purple; visible light seen by the Hubble Space Telescope is in red, green, and blue; and infrared readings from the Spitzer Space Telescope are indicated in red. (NASA via Reuters) Back to slideshow navigation
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  10. A blast on Mars

    This image from the high-resolution camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows a relatively youthful crater with dark-rayed ejecta, plus a light-toned zone that extends beyond that ejecta. The picture was taken in 2009, but it was released along with other images from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment, or HiRISE, on April 3, 2013. Watch a video about the crater (NASA/JPL/University Of Arizona) Back to slideshow navigation
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  12. Storm over the Middle East

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  13. Blue heaven

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  14. Ready for a rocket ride

    Launch crew members check NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy's spacesuit just before his March 28 launch to the International Space Station. Russian cosmonauts Pavel Vinogradov and Alexander Misurkin joined Cassidy in a Soyuz capsule for a quick six-hour ride to the station. (Ramil Sitdikov / Ria Novosti / EPA) Back to slideshow navigation
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  16. Where stars are born

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  17. Crazy quilt

    The rugged landscape of Iytwelepenty/Davenport Murchison National Park in the Australian Outback is "crazily beautiful" when seen from outer space, Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield says. Hadfield sent down this picture from the International Space Station on April 21. (Commander Chris Hadfield / Canadian Space Agency) Back to slideshow navigation

  18. A comet's glow

    Comet ISON takes on a fuzzy glow in an April 10 image from the Hubble Space Telescope. This picture was taken when the comet was 394 million miles from Earth, but Comet ISON is expected to get much closer. Some skywatchers hope it will become bright enough to rank as the "Comet of the Century." (J.-Y. Li (PSI) / NASA / ESA) Back to slideshow navigation
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