Watch live near-Earth asteroid Eros buzzing through the Andromeda Galaxy on November 30 (video)
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Credit: Gianluca Masi, Virtual Telescope Project, Context: NASA, ESA and Hubble Heritage (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble collaboration. Created by Anthony Wood on Canva.
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Tune in on Sunday (November 30) to see live telescopic views as the near-Earth asteroid (433) Eros appears to buzz. Andromeda Galaxythrough a live stream hosted by the Virtual Telescope Institute in partnership with the Asteroid Foundation.
on Sunday live broadcast is scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. EST (2000 GMT) and will feature expert commentary from Virtual Telescope Project founder Gianluca Masi, as well as live views of Andromeda and Eros taken from the organization’s wide-field robotic telescopes in Manciano, Italy – weather permitting, of course.
“Having such an important near-Earth asteroid a few degrees from the legendary Andromeda Galaxy (Messier 31) is a valuable opportunity to share both the importance of this type of minor planets and the beauty of our cosmic neighbor, the island universe Messier 31,” Masi told Space.com in an email.
In 1898, Eros became the first quasi-Earth asteroid never discovered and was later visited by NASA’s Shoemaker NEAR (Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous) spacecraft. After reaching the object, this probe first orbited the 33-kilometer-wide body, and then, on February 12, 2001, made the first asteroid landing in history.
Eros will be just 37 million miles (60 million kilometers) from Earth when it passes within two degrees of Andromeda’s core on the night of November 30, while the vast spiral galaxy itself will be positioned 2.5 million light years from our solar system.
Use Cassiopeia to point the way to the Andromeda Galaxy. | Credit: Created by Anthony Wood in Canva.
“Thanks to its large size, Eros will shine at approximately magnitude 10 for several weeks, making it easily observable even with a modest 60mm telescope,” Masi wrote in another email to Space.com.
Magnitude is the value used by astronomers to measure the brightness of an object in the night sky: the lower the value, the brighter the object.
Want to get a glimpse of the wandering asteroid for yourself? Eros and Andromeda lie above the eastern horizon in the hours after sunset on November 30. First locate the place. constellations Cassiopeia and Andromeda using a handy astronomy app for finding stars. Then locate the first three stars and use them to point the way to Andromeda, as shown in the research table above.
Don’t forget to check out our roundup of best binoculars And telescopes to explore the night sky in 2025.
