http://earthsky.org/space/near-earth-asteroid-2012-tc4-close-pass-october-2017
Prior to this year, this object was observed for just one week in the year 2012. Astronomers tracked its orbit well enough to know it would return – and come close to Earth – but they didn’t have its orbit pinned down precisely. Last summer, experts were already saying they knew this space rock wouldn’t hit us, but they thought 2012 TC4 might give us a close shave, passing as close as 4,200 miles (6,800 km). In late July, though, astronomers recovered the space rock – picked it up telescopically again, after not seeing it for some years – and the new observations let them refine their knowledge of 2012 TC4’s orbit and better compute its closest distance to Earth later this month...
...The calculations on the October, 2017 pass of asteroid 2012 TC4, for example, were originally based on only seven days of tracking it, shortly after it was discovered in 2012. Then we lost the object again, in the depths of space, as it sped away from us. That’s an exceedingly common scenario for close-passing asteroids, which are, after all, just flying chunks (some more like flying mountains) of rock in space. They sweep past, then go their way...
... they know that asteroid 2012 TC4 has made many close approaches to Earth in the past...
...This summer, an international collaboration of telescopes is trying to reacquire the asteroid – that is, find it again in space – with the goal of precisely determining its orbit.
I think it’ll be back sooner than 62 years.
When do you think it will be back?
I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do for a rock speeding by.
Usually speeding rocks are from the neighbor kids and they don’t miss very often.
I could get one of those boards like the pit crews have at the races.
I could write,
“You’re in third place. Pick it up!”
I don’t know if asteroids can read American.
I was just using the number from the story.