The asteroid won't be visible to the naked eye, but amateur astronomers with larger backyard telescopes should be able to catch a glimpse through clear, dark skies. "The iPhone is actually doing the math live in real time." "We're not just playing back the NASA video," DeBenedictis explains. With JPL's help, SkySafari has become the first mobile app with a full-blown solar system orbit integrator built in. The company consulted with solar system dynamics experts at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory on the updates. Why? Because the Earth's gravity affects the asteroid's orbit so severely, most desktop planetarium programs - and all other mobile apps - will completely fail to predict the asteroid's position correctly, says Southern Stars founder Tim DeBenedictis. If you want to track the asteroid you'll want the updated apps. Southern Stars has released update to its SkySafari Plus and Pro apps for iOS, Mac OS X, and Android to let you track 2012 DA14. Although we don't have to worry about a collision, the passage of 2012 DA14 is a record close approach to the Earth for an object of this size. ![]() The 50-meter space rock will come within 17,200 miles of earth - that's closer than our orbiting geosynchronous communication satellites. Which is good, right? And you can follow the asteroid using Apple devices. Don't worry, we're not talking a "Deep Impact" scenario. ![]() 15, a 180,000-ton asteroid with the thrilling name of "2012 DA14" will fly past the Earth.
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