Potentially Hazardous Asteroid (152637) 1997 NC1 close encounter: a new image while it gets closer – 14 June 2026.
While it comes closer and closer, we continue our observing campaign covering the potentially hazardous asteroid (152637) 1997 NC1, waiting for its bright and safe flyby, next June 27.
Potentially Hazardous Asteroid (152637) 1997 NC1: 14 June 2026.
The image shown above comes from a single 300-second exposure, remotely taken with the “Elena” (PlaneWave 17″ + Paramount MEII + SBIG STL-6303E) robotic unit available as part of the Virtual Telescope Project in Manciano, Italy. The telescope tracked the apparent motion of the asteroid, visible in the center of the image, marked by an arrow, while stars show like short streaks. Comparing this image with the ones taken in the past weeks, it is clear how the object is getting brighter, night after night.
At the time of the image, asteroid 1997 NC1 was at about 9.8-million of kilometers from us and safely approaching.
This 710-1600 meters large asteroid will reach its minimum distance from us on 27 June 2026, at 11:16 UTC, safely coming as close as 2.6-million of kilometers, 6.6x the average lunar distance) (source: Nasa/JPL). On average, an object of this size comes so close every ten years or so. Of course, there are no risks at all for our planet.
We will show this object live!
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