Asteroid ‘Alinda’ makes its closest approach towards Earth

Alinda, the huge asteroid (887) has made its closest approach towards the Earth in decades as it is about to peak in brightness in a rare once-in-a-decade event.

The scene can be observed with basic stargazing binoculars or in a free livestream this weekend from home, reported Live Science.

The near-Earth asteroid measures an estimated 2.6 miles (4.2 kilometres) wide — roughly the width of Manhattan

According to Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the chunky space rock made its closest approach to Earth on Wednesday in decades, swooping to within 7.6 million miles (12.3 million km) of our planet, or about 32 times the average distance between Earth and the Moon.

It should be noted that Alinda isn’t predicted to make another close approach to Earth until 2087.

Alinda’s large size also makes it a great target for curious stargazers while an asteroid this big could trigger a mass extinction event if it were to collide with Earth.

The asteroid will peak in brightness at a magnitude of 9.4 on Sunday.

It will be visible moving through the constellation Gemini.