Here's the latest Night Sky column with Argus columnist Jon Powell:

THIS month, the Earth has a close shave with an asteroid, plus a glorious supermoon adorns ours skies.

With an estimated diameter of between 1.1 to 2.5 miles, Asteroid (52768) 1998 OR2 will skim past the Earth on Wednesday, April 29.

At its closest approach, some 3.9 million miles, NASA has classed the asteroid as “potentially hazardous”.

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However, in total, the asteroid makes up just one third of such bodies discovered and plotted out of an estimated 25,000 lumps of rock that are thought to be buzzing Earth.

Asteroid 1998 OR2 orbits the sun in between the orbits of Earth and Mars, with the next flyby on May 18, 2031.

On April 16, 2079, the asteroid passes even closer than its rendezvous with us in 2020, just 1.1 million miles distant.

The asteroid may well ‘brighten’ sufficiently, (reflected sunlight), to be seen in six to eight-inch amateur telescopes, which makes for an interesting challenge if anyone can photograph the visitor by this means.

April will see the largest supermoon of the year, with the moon at its nearest distance to us during 2020 at 221,773 miles.

This supermoon is usually referred to as the Pink Moon, but also the Grass Moon, Fish Moon, or Egg Moon.

The Pink Moon tag doesn’t mean that the moon will turn pink, it was named after pink wildflowers that grow in North America in spring.

Giving ourselves a three-day window, watch out for the full moon on the nights of April 7, 8 and 9.

Photographs and event information can be sent to at TheNightSky@themoon.co.uk

Moon phases:

  • First Quarter April 1
  • Full Moon April 8
  • Third Quarter April 14
  • New Moon April 23
  • First Quarter April 30

Start of April: Sun rises at 6.46am, sets at 7.46pm.

End of April: Sun rises at 5.44am, sets at 8.34pm.

Copies of my books Cosmic Debris, Rare Astronomical Sights and Sounds, and From Cave Art to Hubble are available at www.springer.com