3 April 2026
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Messier 53

Observing

See bright near-Earth asteroid 2017 VR12 pass close to star Spica, 7–8 March

4 March 2018 Ade Ashford

Possibly as large as The Shard in London, Apollo asteroid 2017 VR12 passes just 3¾ lunar distances from Earth at 7:53am GMT on 7 March. For a few nights, this magnitude +12 space rock is a viable target for small backyard telescopes as it gallops through Coma Berenices and Virgo, passing just 0.8 degrees from Spica on the UK night of 7–8 March.

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News Headlines

  • Witness to history: Artemis II, lunar exploration and hope
    2 April 2026
  • Artificial Intelligence uncovers more than 100 new worlds in NASA data
    25 March 2026
  • XRISM solves gamma-Cas’s 50-year X-ray mystery
    24 March 2026
  • Molten lava world points to new class of planet
    16 March 2026
  • Dr Allan Chapman (1946-2026)
    26 January 2026

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