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.
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.
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.