--- title: How to See the 2010 WC9 Asteroid When It Flies Past Earth description: A large asteroid will pass by Earth at close range on Tuesday, May 15. Here's how to see it, even if you don't have a telescope canonical: https://time.com/5276082/2010-wc9-asteroid-time/ author: Alix Langone article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-05-14T13:25:53.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-12T09:09:42.528Z article:section: Science og:title: An Asteroid the Size of the Statue of Liberty Will Whiz Past Earth Soon og:description: Here's how to see it og:url: https://time.com/5276082/2010-wc9-asteroid-time/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt03eecbc5ab374c62/6989304c096a9406356a2649/asteroid-2010-wc9-pass-earth-close-tuesday.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4850 og:image:height: 2728 og:image:alt: asteroid-2010-wc9-pass-earth-close-tuesday.jpg og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: An Asteroid the Size of the Statue of Liberty Will Whiz Past Earth Soon twitter:description: Here's how to see it twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt03eecbc5ab374c62/6989304c096a9406356a2649/asteroid-2010-wc9-pass-earth-close-tuesday.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # An Asteroid the Size of the Statue of Liberty Will Whiz Past Earth Tomorrow. Here's How to See It > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Future Proof: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition Future Proof is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. Making sense of the climate and energy economy. Future Proof examines the forces transforming energy and climate, and what those changes mean for business, technology, policy and the global economy. Senior correspondent Justin Worland goes beyond traditional climate coverage to connect the energy transition to the bigger decisions reshaping companies, markets and society. 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Future Proof is TIME's weekly climate and energy newsletter, written by senior correspondent Justin Worland. It connects the energy transition to the decisions reshaping business, technology, policy and markets. #### Where can I follow the energy transition as a business story? Future Proof covers climate and energy as an economic and business story rather than only an environmental one. It publishes every Friday and is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who writes Future Proof? Justin Worland, a senior correspondent at TIME and an award-winning climate journalist, writes Future Proof. #### Is Future Proof free? Yes. Future Proof is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-futureproof-2026q3/newsletters?i=92be996d-d04c-4cac-9788-d14bfeb997d7&cr=time-nl-futureproof-2026q3-v1) ## Video: How Do We Spot Near Earth Asteroids? [Watch (HLS stream): How Do We Spot Near Earth Asteroids?](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/9Ik1YMAv.m3u8) (1:05)  _Published 2017-11-30. Did you ever wonder how NASA spots asteroids that maybe getting too close to Earth for comfort? Watch and learn._ by [Alix Langone](https://time.com/author/alix-langone/) ## Alix Langone May 14, 2018 1:25 PM UTC Did you ever wonder how NASA spots asteroids that maybe getting too close to Earth for comfort? Watch and learn. by [Alix Langone](https://time.com/author/alix-langone/) ## Alix Langone May 14, 2018 1:25 PM UTC An asteroid the size of the Statue of Liberty will zoom past Earth on Tuesday. The asteroid, dubbed [2010 WC9](https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=2010%20WC9;old=0;orb=0;cov=0;log=0;cad=1#phys%5Fpar), is about the size of a football field and will fly past Earth at about 28,655 miles per hour, [according to EarthSky](http://earthsky.org/space/lost-asteroid-to-pass-closely-may-15). It will come within 126,419 miles of Earth — the closest it has come to our planet in 300 years — though it is still considered a safe passing distance. The asteroid is expected to whiz past Earth at 6:05 p.m. E.T. on Tuesday, May 15. > [](https://twitter.com/earthskyscience/status/995287752966049792) Despite its seemingly large size, the asteroid will not be visible to the naked eye from Earth. For those hoping to catch a glimpse of the asteroid, it will be visible with a telescope for some people. But even if you don’t have a telescope, you can still see the asteroid Tuesday night thanks to a [livestream from Northholt Branch Observatories in London](https://www.facebook.com/NBObservatories/). The observatory will stream it live on Facebook beginning Monday, May 14 at midnight local U.K. time, so viewers can see 2010 WC9 in space before it begins its approach past Earth. The asteroid was originally discovered in 2010 by [The Catalina Sky Survey](https://catalina.lpl.arizona.edu/) in Arizona, but was then lost when it “became too faint to see,” according to EarthSky. Astronomers did not have enough information about 2010 WC9’s orbit to keep track of it until it reappeared this month. It is bigger than the Chelyabinsk meteor, which broke up entering the Earth’s atmosphere five years ago in 2013\. The Chelyabinsk meteor was two to three times smaller than this week’s 2010 WCJ, but its force upon entering Earth’s atmosphere still broke windows in multiple Russian cities and hospitalized more than 1,000 people. The crash was “pegged as 30 to 40 times stronger than the atomic bomb the United States dropped on Hiroshima,” according to EarthSky. Before that, the famous [Tunguska meteor broke up over Siberia in 1908](http://world.time.com/2013/10/16/meteorite-pulled-from-russian-lake-one-of-worlds-biggest/) and was thought to be 1,000 times more powerful than the atomic bomb, flattening more than 80 million trees. ## Transcript How do we spot near Earth Asteroids? To start, survey telescopes scan the sky. When multiple pictures of the same spot show a speck that's moving, computers automatically check it against a database of known objects. If there is no match It gets added to a list of objects to confirm. And, if it looks like it will very close to us, we get a top priority. When it's time, we call in for reinforcements, more astronomers, from NASA, other institutions and even the amateurs submit additional observations. Each new data point helps refine the projected path, and this asteroid is going to fly right on by. All the info will be posted online so it can continue to be tracked and monitored. Nice Nice work, planetary defense team. Keep watching the skies. [ MUSIC ] [ BLANK_AUDIO ] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5276082/2010-wc9-asteroid-time/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5276082/2010-wc9-asteroid-time/"},"headline":"An Asteroid the Size of the Statue of Liberty Will Whiz Past Earth Tomorrow. 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