Asteroid 2012 DA14 is due to do a close fly-by of Earth on Friday, Feb. 15.
Of course, "close" is relative. The asteroid will be passing within 17,200 miles of the Earth's surface. While this may seem far away, the space rock will be flying 5,000 miles closer to Earth than satellites in geosynchronous orbits. Scientists say that there's no chance the 150-foot-wide asteroid will collide with Earth.
DA14 will fly the closest to Earth of any asteroid since sky surveys began in the mid-1990s. This will also be the last time 2012 DA14 will fly so close to Earth. The next time the asteroid will approach our planet will be on Feb. 15, 2046, when DA14 will come within a million miles from Earth, about four times the distance from Earth to the moon.
The asteroid will come closest to Earth at 2:25 PM EST, when it will fly over the Indian Ocean at almost 17,500 miles. DA14 will be too dim to see with the naked eye, but it might be visible in Australia, Asia and Europe if you're using binoculars or a small telescope.
If you're not on that side of globe, though, you can watch the fly-by on a number of online streams.
Phil Plait of the Bad Astronomy blog on Slate will host a Google Hangout at 2:00 PM EST. When the link to the Hangout goes live, Plait will post it to his Google Plus stream.
NASA is also doing two streams, on UStream and NASA TV. Their streams will also begin at 2:00 PM.
The Bareket Observatory in Israel will begin its live stream of the asteroid at 3:15 PM.
If the weather stays clear, the Clay Center Observatory in Brookline, Massachusetts will also offer a stream at 6:00 PM on USteream.
The Slooh Space Camera will be broadcasting a stream at 9:00 PM with expert commentary.
