Millions of people in the northeastern U.S. could see a rare sight next week: an asteroid blotting out light from one of the brightest stars in the sky, according to NASA.
The space-rock is around the size of Rhode Island, and will put out the light from the star Regulus around 2 a.m. on March 20.
It will be the most visible such event ever in North America, according to NASA.
Most people with modest gear "can contribute real science," according to Alan MacRobert, a senior editor at Sky & Telescope magazine, according to USA Today.
"You can give one additional data point for determining the character of this asteroid that will be known for all time and history," MacRobert added.
For example, an observer with a digital SLR camera will be able to take high-quality data. Even if you have a normal video camera or a stopwatch, you'll be able to provide NASA useful information, according to USA Today.
Asteroids block stars every night, but only people with high-quality telescopes can see most of these occurrences. Usually asteroids are too small, fast, dim, or far away for people on Earth to make observation, according to Steve Preston, president of the International Occultation Timing Association, a volunteer science organization, who spoke with USA Today.
Since the 1980s, only eight asteroids visible to the naked eye have been observed in the U.S., according to Preston.
Regulus, in the constellation Leo, will be in the western part of the sky next week, according to NASA. The asteroid's passage will be most visible in New Jersey, New York City, Long Island sections of New York state, and Canada.
The star will likely disappear in the locations around 2:06 a.m., according to USA Today.
Of all the previous occultations "easily visible to lots of people, this is going to be by far the best one, head and shoulders above any other," says Brad Timerson, another official of the occultation association, according to USA Today. "Of course, it's 2 o'clock on a Thursday morning."
The long-term forecast for early Thursday in those locations is cloudy.
People from as far away as Germany plan to make the trip to New York to see the asteroid's passage, and astronomers are planning on going to bars across Brooklyn and Manhattan to "encourage" late-night customers to step outside and look for the passage.
A free smartphone app has been developed by the occultation association to help people time the passage of the asteroid as well, according to USA Today.
"This is a very rare event," said Preston. "(It) may well be the only chance in my lifetime to observe an occultation of a first-magnitude star."
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