Asteroid to fly past Earth on February 15

[UnrepentantLiberal]

THE small near-Earth asteroid 2012 DA14 will pass very close to Earth on February 15, so close that it will pass inside the ring of geosynchronous weather and communications satellites.

United States National Aeronautic Space Agency’s (NASA) Near-Earth Object Programme Office can accurately predict the asteroid’s path with the observations obtained, and it is therefore known that there is no chance that the asteroid might be on a collision course with Earth. Nevertheless, the flyby will provide a unique opportunity for researchers to study a near-Earth object up close.

Asteroid 2012 DA14 will be closest to Earth on Feb. 15, at about 11:24 a.m. PST (2:24 p.m. EST and 1924 UTC), when it will be at a distance of about 27,700 kilometers (17,200 miles) above Earth’s surface. Although this is close enough for the asteroid to pass inside the ring of geosynchronous satellites, located about 35,800 kilometers (22,200 miles) above the equator, it will still be well above the vast majority of satellites, including the International Space Station. At its closest, the asteroid will be only about 1/13th of the distance to the moon. The asteroid will fly by our planet quite rapidly, at a speed of about 17,400 mph (7.8 kilometers per second) in a south-to-north direction with respect to Earth.

Link: http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=112620:asteroid-to-fly-past-earth-on-february-15&catid=93:science&Itemid=608

[longship]

1. Whatever you do, stay off ladders that day!

R&K

[Marie Marie]

2. And wear your hard hat.

[Reno Master]

3. There seem to be several questions unanswered by the article.

Last edited Thu Feb 7, 2013, 10:50 AM - Edit history (1)

For example: At what longitude will the asteroid pass the earth? How massive is it? Will it have any deleterious effect on satellites or the earth?

[bananas]

4. Real-Time Video Of Asteroid 2012 DA14 Offered By Clay Center Observatory

http://www.redorbit.com/news/space/1112778618/video-asteroid-2012-da14-offered-clay-center-observatory-020613/

Real-Time Video Of Asteroid 2012 DA14 Offered By Clay Center Observatory

February 6, 2013

When a small asteroid brushes within 18,000 miles of Earth in 10 days, the news media and public will be able to watch the celestial near-miss as it happens.

On Friday, February 15th, weather permitting, real-time high-definition video from the Clay Center Observatory will be available from 6 p.m. EST until 4 a.m. the next morning (3 p.m. to 1 a.m. PST). The video feed can be freely accessed worldwide via the observatory’s Ustream channel.

A countdown clock shows how much time remains until the tracking begins.

The Clay Center Observatory’s “space camera” has a 25-inch main mirror — making it one of the largest publicly accessible telescopes in the United States. Since it is on the East Coast, at the Dexter and Southfield Schools in Brookline, Massachusetts, this will be among the first large telescopes in the country to provide imagery of the asteroid as night falls on February 15th.

<snip>

According to the countdown clock, it's 8 days 17 hours from now.