UPDATE: JUNE 27, 2011****************************************
ASTEROID FLYBY: Asteroid 2011 MD is flying past Earth today, Monday June 27. At 1:00 p.m. EDT (1700 UT) the ~10-meter space rock was only 12,000 kilometers (7,500 miles) above the planet's surface. NASA analysts said there was no chance it would strike Earth, and indeed it didn't.
Astronomers around the world are monitoring the object as it flies by. Using a remotely-controled telescope in Cerro Tololo, Chile, Joe Pollock of Appalachian State University obtained this light curve:
"Asteroid 2001 MD appears to be rotating with a 23.3 or 11.6 minute period," notes Pollock.
After closest approach to Earth, the spinning asteroid will recede through the zone of geosynchronous satellites. The chances of a collision with a satellite or manmade space junk are extremely small, albeit not zero. Stay tuned for updates.
flyby movies and images: from Marco Langbroek of Sierra Stars Obs., California;from Efrain Morales Rivera of Aguadilla, Puerto Rico; from Nick Howes of Siding Spring Australia; from Rafael Ferrando of the Observatory Pla d'Arguines in Segorbe, Spain; from Libor Vyskocil of the Observatory Upice in the Czech Republic; from Nick James of Chelmsford, UK; from Rolando Ligustri of Talmassons Observatory, Italy http://spaceweather.com/
update end
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Asteroid To Pass Within 7,500 Miles Of Earth
By MARK DUNPHY - Fri Jun 24, 11:12 am
A newly discovered asteroid will pass within 12,000 kilometres (7,500 miles) of Earth on Monday, June 27th next. However, NASA says the space rock poses no threat to the planet.2011MD was sighted for the first time on Wednesday by a robotic telescope in New Mexico, USA. The International Astronomical Union’s Minor Planet Center in Massachusetts, USA, put out an alert Thursday.
It will be daylight in the UK and Ireland (12.30 GMT) when the asteroid makes passes over the southern Atlantic Ocean, near the coast of Antarctica.
NASA say the encounter is so close that Earth’s gravity will sharply alter the asteroid’s trajectory.
According to spaceweather.com: “As the asteroid recedes from Earth, it will pass through the zone of geosynchronous satellites. The chances of a collision with a satellite or manmade space junk are extremely small, albeit not zero.”
“Judging from the brightness of the asteroid, it measures only 5 to 20 meters in diameter. According to JPL’s Near Earth Object Program office, one would expect an object of this size to come this close to Earth about every 6 years on average. For a brief time, it will be bright enough to be seen even with a medium-sized backyard telescope”, the website stated.
Earlier this month (2 June), a 10-metre wide asteroid passed between the earth and moon.
Asteroid 2009 BD, which was first observed on 16 January 2009 passed approximately within 0.9 lunar distances (the distance between Earth and the Moon) of earth. Astronomers believe the rock is a rare “co-orbital asteroid” which follows the orbit of the Earth, not receding more than 0.1 AU (15 million km) away.
Two asteroids, several meters in diameter and in unrelated orbits, passed within the moon’s distance of Earth, September 8 2010. In April 2010 an asteroid roughly as long as a tennis court zoomed past Earth at about the distance of the moon. The space rock to pass at or within lunar distance previous to this was 2009 JL2, an asteroid about 17 to 37 meters across, in May 2009.
There is a roughly 50 percent chance of a 30-meter-plus asteroid striking Earth each century, according to Clark Chapman, a space scientist at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado, USA.
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Close encounter of asteroid with Earth on June 27: NASA
Published: Friday, Jun 24, 2011, 17:25 IST
Place: Mumbai | Agency: PTI
Place: Mumbai | Agency: PTI
The newly-discovered asteroid 2011 MD will pass only 12,000 kilometres above the Earth's surface on June 27, NASA said today.
NASA analysts said that there is no chance the space rock will strike the Earth.
Nevertheless, the encounter is so close that Earth's gravity will sharply perturb the asteroid's trajectory, they said in the space agency's official website spaceweather.com.
At closest approach, 2011 MD will pass in broad daylight over the southern Atlantic Ocean near the coast of Antarctica. As the asteroid recedes from Earth, it will pass through the zone of geosynchronous satellites.
"The chances of a collision with a satellite or man-made space junk are extremely small, albeit not zero," NASA said.
Judging from the brightness of the asteroid, it measures only 5 to 20 meters in diameter.
According to NASA's JPL's Near Earth Object Program office, one would expect an object of this size to come this close to Earth about every six years on an average.
For a brief time, it will be bright enough to be seen even with a medium-sized backyard telescope, NASA said.
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Is Asteroid 2011 MD Space Junk?
When I was working up the details for yesterday's story on asteroid 2011 MD, I gasped when I looked at the orbit diagram. Not only does this body's orbit intersect Earth's, but it's also in the same plane (within a few degrees), and moving at almost the same velocity. Somehow, it seemed unlikely to be an accident!
Alan MacRobert, who sits across the hall from me, immediately suggested that it is indeed no accident — that this "asteroid" is actually the upper stage of a rocket. These upper stages are abandoned to become space junk after they've released their payloads. Most of them remain in Earth orbit, but it's perfectly possible for them to escape and start looping around the Sun all on their own. Since they start out with almost the same velocity as Earth, they tend to stay in similar orbits.
Bill Gray, a well-known expert on orbital dynamics, pointed out the same possibility, and suggested that it should be possible to tell the difference. Rockets are hollow, so they're much less massive than asteroids of similar size. Enough so that they "feel" the push of sunlight, which can affect their orbits significantly. As of Friday morning, Gray's preliminary calculations indicate that this probably is indeed a true asteroid, and not a rocket.
When word spread about the approaching asteroid 2011 MD, Peter Birtwhistle used his 16-inch (0.4-m) f/6 Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope to capture it. Each of these two frames is a combination of five 20-second exposures, taken on June 23, 2011, from 1:41 to 1:45 Universal Time.
Peter Birtwhistle
Bill Gray, a well-known expert on orbital dynamics, pointed out the same possibility, and suggested that it should be possible to tell the difference. Rockets are hollow, so they're much less massive than asteroids of similar size. Enough so that they "feel" the push of sunlight, which can affect their orbits significantly. As of Friday morning, Gray's preliminary calculations indicate that this probably is indeed a true asteroid, and not a rocket.
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"The celestial encounter is going to be so close that earth's gravity will sharply alter the asteriod's trajectory," said Bharat Adur, director of Akash Ganga Centre forAstronomy (AGCA).
At its closest point, 2011-MD - a chunk of rock estimated to be 8 to 18 m across - will pass in daylight over the southern Atlantic Ocean, near Antarctica.
As it recedes away from earth, it will pass through the zone of geosynchronous satellites. But the chances of a collision with a satellite or manmade space-junk are extremely small but not zero, Adur said.
"Judging from its brightness, it measures only 5 to 20 meters in diameter. One would expect an object of this size to come this close to earth about every 6 years on average. For a brief time, it will be bright enough to be seen even with a medium-sized backyard telescope," Adur told IANS.
http://mangalorean.com/news.php?newstype=local&newsid=247111
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ASTEROID FLYBY: Newly-discovered asteroid 2011 MD will pass only 12,000 kilometers (7,500 miles) above Earth's surface on Monday June 27 at about 9:30 a.m. EDT. NASA analysts say there is no chance the space rock will strike Earth. Nevertheless, the encounter is so close that Earth's gravity will sharply alter the asteroid's trajectory:
At closest approach, 2011 MD will pass in broad daylight over the southern Atlantic Ocean near the coast of Antarctica. As the asteroid recedes from Earth, it will pass through the zone of geosynchronous satellites. The chances of a collision with a satellite or manmade space junk are extremely small, albeit not zero.
Judging from the brightness of the asteroid, it measures only 5 to 20 meters in diameter. According to JPL's Near Earth Object Program office, one would expect an object of this size to come this close to Earth about every 6 years on average. For a brief time, it will be bright enough to be seen even with a medium-sized backyard telescope. [observing tips] [3D orbit]
1 comment:
no news coverage the is no suprise.will the garvity alter the path.kirk utah
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