It will be close to us as we speak this morning, the asteroid 4660 Nereus doing a flyby of the earth. In the early hours of Sunday morning, the 1,083-foot asteroid - which is believed to contain $5 billion worth of precious metals - will get to within four million kilometres of us. (That's still about 10 times the moon's distance, but considered close on a cosmic distance scale.) Still, to see 4660 Nereus, you would have needed at least a 20-cm telescope, or larger. Planetary astronomer Dr Michele Bannister, from Canterbury University's School of Physical & Chemical Sciences, joins the show to give a rundown on what happened earlier today and the significance of 4660 Nereus.
12 Dec 2021