Posted on 03/25/2011 9:39:33 AM PDT by TaraP
Near-Earth asteroid 2005 YU55 will pass within 0.85 lunar distances from the Earth on November 8, 2011.
The upcoming close approach by this relatively large 400 meter-sized, C-type asteroid presents an excellent opportunity for synergistic ground-based observations including optical, near infrared and radar data. The attached animated illustration shows the Earth and moon flyby geometry for November 8th and 9th when the object will reach a visual brightness of 11th magnitude and should be easily visible to observers in the northern and southern hemispheres.
The closest approach to Earth and the Moon will be respectively 0.00217 AU and 0.00160 AU on 2011 November 8 at 23:28 and November 9 at 07:13 UT.
Discovered December 28, 2005 by Robert McMillan of the Spacewatch Program near Tucson Arizona, the object has been previously observed by Mike Nolan, Ellen Howell and colleagues with the Arecibo radar on April 19-21, 2010 and shown to be a very dark, nearly spherical object 400 meters in diameter.
Because of its approximate 20-hour rotation period, ideal radar observations should include tracks that are 8 hours or longer on multiple dates at Goldstone (November 3-11) and when the object enters Arecibo's observing window on November 8th.
Using the Goldstone radar operating in a relatively new "chirp" mode, the November 2011 radar opportunity could result in a shape model reconstruction with a resolution of as fine as 4 meters. Several days of high resolution imaging (about 7.5 meters) are also planned at Arecibo. As well as aiding the interpretation of the radar observations, collaborative visual and near infrared observations could define the object's rotation characteristics and provide constraints upon the nature of the object's surface roughness and mineral composition.
Since the asteroid will approach the Earth from the sunward direction, it will be a daylight object until the time of closest approach. The best time for new ground-based optical and infrared observations will be late in the day on November 8, after 21:00 hours UT from the eastern Atlantic and western Africa zone. A few hours after its close Earth approach, it will become generally accessible for optical and near-IR observations but will provide a challenging target because of its rapid motion across the sky.
Maybe this is what this 11/11 is all about?
I guess I won’t be able to get a cool photo of it like I did the super moon.
Don't most of the common 114mm Newtons reach 12th magnitude?
0.00160 AU. An AU is the distance from the Sun to the Earth, or 93 million miles. By my calculations, 0.00160 AU is about 150,000 miles. Close but not too close.
The good news about that chart is that the moon will not be in a position to gravitationally deflect the object towards Earth.
And they think Barringer was a 50 meter iron-nickel. It would be nice if it stayed .85 lunars away, eh?
From the animation, it looks like whoever’s shooting at us is using tracer.
What did you use for taking the picture?I have actual telescope cameras but all boxed up now so my attempt used a Panasonic digital camcorder with 78x zoom.Had to back off slightly from max zoom.Local humidty caused slight haloing ,camera IS setting was needed to get in-focus picture because no tripod was used.
Personally I didn't feel the moon looked any bigger than usual.
Ah, misread the article, the .00016 AU is closest approch to the moon. It will stay over 200K miles away from the Earth.
within 0.85 lunar distances
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That’s cutting it pretty fine..
The average distance between the Earth and Moon is 238,857 miles.
So .85 lunar distance would equal approximately 203,028 miles.
FEMA has been quietly stockpiling a billion MRE’s. They say it’s a terrorism contingency. You wouldn’t need to feed a billion people under the worst terrorism contingency conceivable.
What if it hits the moon? I bet that that would make an interesting picture.
Using my finger and thumb as a precision measuring device, I deduce that it will be closer than 100,000 to the moon.
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