Asteroid will swing by, but won't stop

Rich Parsons

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I found this interesting


from: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080125/ap_on_sc/earth_asteroid


Asteroid will swing by, but won't stop


By ALICIA CHANG, AP Science Writer Thu Jan 24, 10:33 PM ET

LOS ANGELES - An asteroid at least 500 feet long will make a rare close pass by Earth next week, but there is no chance of an impact, scientists reported Thursday.

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The object, known as 2007 TU24, is expected to whiz by Earth on Tuesday with its closest approach at 334,000 miles, or about 1.4 times the distance of Earth to the moon.
The nighttime encounter should be bright enough for medium-sized telescopes to get a glimpse, said Don Yeomans, manager of the Near-Earth Object Program Office at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which tracks potentially dangerous space rocks.
However, next week's asteroid pass "has no chance of hitting, or affecting, Earth," Yeomans said.
An actual collision of a similar-sized object with Earth occurs on average every 37,000 years.
Spotted last October by the NASA-funded Catalina Sky Survey in Arizona, 2007 TU24 is estimated to be between 500 feet and 2,000 feet long. The next time an asteroid this size will fly this close to Earth will be in 2027.
Scientists plan to point the Goldstone radar telescope in California and the Arecibo radar telescope in Puerto Rico at the asteroid and observe its path before and after its closest approach to Earth. Researchers will use instruments to measure its rotation and composition.
The 2007 TU24 rendezvous comes a day before another asteroid is projected to pass close to Mars.
Scientists have effectively ruled out a collision between the Red Planet and the asteroid 2007 WD5, estimating it will pass at a distance of more than 16,000 miles from the Martian surface. Initial observations of the Mars-bound asteroid put the odds of an impact at 1 in 25, but scientists later dropped the odds to 1 in 10,000.
 

MA-Caver

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Interesting and somewhat comforting that they're at least watching that big *** sky for anything that could impact us.

But then news like this makes me nervous about the Dr. Evils in this world who may be hatching an insidious plot.
Then again all we have to do is pay him .... 1 millllion dollars!
:uhyeah:
 

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crushing

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What is the power on a 'medium-sized' telescope? My father gave my son a telescope just a couple weeks ago. I wonder how you go about finding the asteroid's location in the sky? I guess it's time for some googling. ;)
 

Bigshadow

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What is the power on a 'medium-sized' telescope? My father gave my son a telescope just a couple weeks ago. I wonder how you go about finding the asteroid's location in the sky? I guess it's time for some googling. ;)

FYI, the magnification isn't nearly as important as it's light gathering abilities. The larger diameter the objective lens (the tube) the more light that can be gathered, the better you can see deep space objects. I have a 6" diameter reflector scope that seems to gather alot of light. However, I would prefer a 10" diameter or greater, tube. One should be able to see nebula with something that large. Most magnifications will work just fine. In fact, the more magnification, the more often you will need to keep adjusting the scope to reposition onto the object. The more magnification the more pronounced the distortion of the atmosphere seems to be, which will tend to blur the object. Another thing to think about is let the scope acclimate to the outside temperatures before trying to view the object. If condensation builds on the lens, objects will appear blurred.

Most of all, have fun viewing the sky!

As for the meteor? I don't know anything about it, or even if you can see it. If the sun is shining on it, you should be able to see it. Otherwise, it is likely you won't, unless the scope has a large diameter barrel or tube.

You want a light bucket, not a microsope! :p
 

Steel Tiger

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Its a good thing that someone is watching these far travelling astronomical bodies because they do get close.

Before 2007 TU24, there was 2004 XP14 which passed at about 1.1 times the distance from the Earth to the Moon. That was is 2006. Nothing to worry about until around 2029 now when 99942 Apophis is expected to pass through the orbits of geo-synchronous satellites. It should be bright enough to be seen with the naked eye.

And people say NASA's no worth the money.



I have been reading about near-Earth asteroids lately. Especially Apophis which will visit in 2029 and again in 2036 and was once believed to have a chance of an Earth impact (very high at 2.7%) but has been down-graded to no risk. Its all very interesting.
 

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