This is asteroid 1998 OR2 during its closest approach to Earth, taken April 28, 2020:

Asteroid 1998 OR2 was about 3.9 million miles (6.3 million kilometers) away from us, or about 16 times further away than the Moon. The next time this asteroid will come close to Earth is in 2079 when it will only be 4 times the distance of the Moon away from us. This asteroid is about 1.5 miles across (2km).

I took these images during a star party held by Slooh.com. During the party, Slooh.com delivered live views of the asteroid from the Chile Two and Canary Two telescopes and provided live commentary by Paul Cox. Members were able to snap images during the show and the FITS were made available the next day.

I created this first image by stacking all of the images I gathered during the show using MaxIM DL and using the Sum combination method so that I could get the trail showing the progression of the asteroid during the hour that we observed it during the star party.

This is the animated version of the preceding image:

I created this using MaxIM DL as well, except instead of stacking the images, I created an animation. I exported the animation to Photoshop where I resized it and added the logo.

As you watch the frames, note that a couple of satellites pass through the field of view (at the left 1/3 of the image and later at bottom 1/3 of the image). It’s interesting to watch things like this and I am glad to be able to share this with you.

Learn How To Take Photos Like This One

You too can take photos like this using remote telescopes located around the world! It’s fun, easy, and there’s a whole community of astronomers just like you to interact with.

Check out my FREE book for more details! You can download the book right away and start taking your own images like this.