A wide field view of the passage of 1998 QE2 this week, from May 27th through June 2nd.
(Created by the author in Starry Night).
Posted on 05/27/2013 4:23:09 PM PDT by BenLurkin
A large asteroid visits our fair corner of the solar system this week, and with a little planning you may just be able to spot it.
Near Earth Asteroid (NEA) 285263 (1998 QE2) will pass 6.2 million kilometres from the Earth on Friday, May 31st at 20:59 Universal Time (UT) or 4:59PM EDT. Discovered in 1998 during the LIncoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research (LINEAR) sky survey looking for such objects, 1998 QE2 will shine at magnitude +10 to +12 on closest approach. Estimates of its size vary from 1.3 to 2.9 kilometres, with observations by the Spitzer Space Telescope in 2010 placing the ballpark figure towards the high end of the scale at 2.7 kilometres in diameter.
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But the good news is, you can search for 1998 QE2 starting tonight. The asteroid is currently at +12th magnitude in the constellation Centaurus and will be cruising through Hydra on its way north into Libra Friday on May 31st. You’ll need a telescope to track the asteroid as it will never top +10th magnitude, which is the general threshold for binocular viewing under dark skies. Its relative southern declination at closest approach means that 1998 QE2 will be best observed from northern latitudes of +35° southward. The farther south you are, the higher it will be placed in the sky after dusk.
(Excerpt) Read more at universetoday.com ...
Thanks BenLurkin.
Near Earth Asteroid (NEA) 285263 (1998 QE2) will pass 6.2 million kilometres from the Earth on Friday, May 31st at 20:59 Universal Time (UT) or 4:59PM EDT... Estimates of its size vary from 1.3 to 2.9 kilometres... [probably] 2.7 kilometres in diameter... starting tonight. The asteroid is currently at +12th magnitude in the constellation Centaurus and will be cruising through Hydra on its way north into Libra Friday on May 31st... it will never top +10th magnitude... threshold for binocular viewing under dark skies... best observed from northern latitudes of +35° southward.
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Thanks!
I think the writer and editor can change a few terms and recycle this story for the business page.
/johnny
QE2? I think it’s already hit us.
Ooohhh. I'm scared.
/johnny
Glad I read all the comments first. Aren’t we somewhere between QE3 and QE10 by now?
Nope. We now have QE Infinity thanks to Republicans. You know, the guys we support.
I don’t really support the republicans. I just support the democrats less. There are a few true conservatives in the republican party but not enough. But there are no conservatives among the democrats.
Agree.
A perihelion is when there are two helions; and exterior falls between wterior and yterior.
Thanks. For a while there I was running in a circle.
Maybe if I had a smart phone I could get the aphelion and keep all this straight.
Well, smart phones do have a lot of Aphel.
Congrats that is the high point of the entire thread.
It’s a signal achievement.
and now the long slow slide into oblivion
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