Original: Visibility from Earth On January 31 , 2012 Eros is expected to pass Earth at 0.179 astronomical units ( 16.6 million miles ) , about 70 times the distance to the moon , with a visual magnitude of +8.5 .
Simplified: On January 31 , 2012 , Eros is expected to pass Earth at 0.1787 astronomical units ( 16.6 million miles ) with a visual magnitude of +8.1 .