Posted on 01/11/2025 9:48:41 AM PST by BenLurkin
This weekend, the mountain-size space rock will peak in brightness in a rare once-in-a-decade event that you can observe from home with basic stargazing binoculars — or in a free livestream.
Named (887) Alinda, the near-Earth asteroid measures an estimated 2.6 miles (4.2 kilometers) wide — roughly the width of Manhattan — according to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. On Wednesday (Jan. 8), the chunky space rock made its closest approach to Earth in decades, swooping to within 7.6 million miles (12.3 million km) of our planet, or about 32 times the average distance between Earth and the moon. Alinda isn't predicted to make another close approach to Earth until 2087.
The asteroid will be visible moving through the constellation Gemini, which appears in the Northern Hemisphere just after dark and remains visible all night long, according to skywatching reporter Jamie Carter.
If you don't have the gear, don't fret; Masi and the Virtual Telescope Project are hosting a free livestream of asteroid Alinda's bright flyby on Jan. 12 at 12:30 p.m. EST.
(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...
Thanks!
My pleasure. If we do wind up that close to the Sun, stock up on 500 sunblock.
“ Virtually every NASA flight requires years of planning. It is not a “quick reaction” launch organization and isn’t meant to be.”
Seems like a niche for SpaceX
Your math is off by a lot. The Sun is 93 million miles from earth, this rock will be less than 8 million miles from earth.
No. SpaceX makes rockets. NASA plans missions. Entirely different endeavors.
I agree a big space rock probably isn’t a high-priority target. I don’t blame them for passing on it.
It was actually closest to earth on January 8th and is receding now. The Y-Axis is the distance from the earth in AU, "astronomical units", where 1 AU = 92,955,807 miles and represents the average distance between the earth and sun.
Data from: https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/horizons/app.html#/
Would anything stop SpaceX from planning and running a mission to an asteroid without any NASA involvement?
Money.
Ping for later
I am confused. Article says
The asteroid will be visible moving through the constellation Gemini, which appears in the Northern Hemisphere just after dark and remains visible all night....
But, further down it talks about a livestreaming of tge event at 12:30 PM tomorrow. 🤔
In order to make an omlette, you have to break some eggs.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.