The European spacecraft Rosetta will fly past the Earth on Friday as it builds up the speed needed to chase down and orbit a comet in 2014.

The probe will get as close as 1,900km to the planet, as it accelerates under the pull of gravity on a slingshot manoeuvre out to Mars. It is the first of three Earth flybys Rosetta will make before travelling through the asteroid belt to Jupiter.

There, it will rendezvous with the Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.

European skywatchers with good amateur telescopes stand a chance of seeing Rosetta, if weather conditions are favourable. It will appear to come out of an area in the sky between the constellations Leo and Sextans.

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