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NASA Chat: Asteroid 1998 QE2 to Sail Past Earth

Editor’s note: This event is now closed.

› Chat Transcript (PDF, 150 Kb)

Asteroid 1998 QE2 is making its closest approach to Earth on May 31 at 4:59 p.m. EDT. It will get no closer than about 3.6 million miles (5.8 million kilometers), or about 15 times the distance between Earth and the moon. This is the closest approach the asteroid will make to Earth for at least the next two centuries.

Asteroid 1998 QE2's path by Earth
Asteroid 1998 QE2 will get no closer than about 3.6 million miles at time of closest approach on May 31, 2023, at 4:59 p.m. EDT.
NASA/JPL-Caltech

On May 30 from 8-10 p.m. EDT, join Dr. Bill Cooke of the Marshall Space Flight Center Meteoroid Environment Office as he takes your questions about QE2 via live Web chat.

More About Asteroid 1998 QE2

Asteroid 1998 QE2 was discovered on Aug 19, 1998, by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Lincoln Near Earth Asteroid Research (LINEAR) program near Socorro, N.M. While the asteroid is believed to be about 1.7 miles (2.7 kilometers) in size, or nine Queen Elizabeth 2 ship-lengths in size, it poses no threat to Earth.

More About Chat Expert Bill Cooke