There’s a buzz among the astronomers of Wales today! Because later on this evening, a rare astronomic event will happen…… a huge asteroid will pass so close to earth that it’ll be visible with a pair of decent binoculars or a telescope. And the countryside here in beautiful Wales will be one of the best places to see this asteroid from, not least because there are vast areas with little or no light pollution.

The asteroid over Wales (excitingly named “2004BL86”) is expected to be visible tonight from about 8pm onwards as it travels at a speed of 35,000 mph. If you head to a dark spot that’s not illuminated by too many lights, you should be able to see it if you look south east as it passes between Jupiter and the very bright star Sirius.

Although hundreds of asteroids pass over the earth every week, most are so small that they aren’t visible. However this one is rare due to its size – it’s huge (about the size of a cruise-ship) so it’ll be perfectly visible so long as weather conditions stay clear. The asteroid over Wales will pass a mere 745,000 miles (or 1.2 million km) away from earth, which sounds pretty far away, but in astronomical terms is a pretty close shave.

No other asteroid as large is expected to pass so close to earth until 2027 when asteroid “1999AN10” flies past us.

So, if you want a chance of seeing the space rock asteroid over Wales tonight, head out from 8pm onwards to a dark area not polluted by light. Look upwards and to the south east and you should see the asteroid clearly – it’ll look as if it’s travelling very slowly and in the opposite direction to everything else.

**Did you know…… an asteroid is a minor planet of the inner solar system? Millions of them exist, and they are thought to be pieces of bigger planets that have exploded or smaller pieces of cosmic rock that never grew large enough to become a planet in their own right. Although this asteroid will pass pretty close to earth, it’s thought that a large asteroid only hits our planet once every 500,000 years.