An Asteroid Will Come Close to Earth—But How Close?
A small asteroid is currently hurtling toward Earth. And while NASA says there is essentially no chance of impact, it could be a close shave.
Asteroid 2013 TX68 is expected to swing by our planet on March 5. It could pass at a distance of 9 million miles (14 million km), which is a comfortable 35 times farther than the moon. Or it could come as close as 11,000 miles (17,000 km). That’s about half the altitude that our geosynchronous satellites orbit (but it’s not expected that any satellites will be in danger).
The reason for the wide variance in estimates is, essentially, lack of data. The asteroid was discovered and last seen in 2013 by the Catalina Sky Survey. At the time, scientists were only able to gather data on it for three days before it passed in front of the sun and was lost in glare.
“While astronomers could determine an orbit for the asteroid, there was some uncertainty in the orbital parameters [or its specific flight trajectory],” says Patrick Taylor, an asteroid scientist at Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. Since then, Taylor says, the predictions on its path “have diverged a bit.”
Taylor says it’s unlikely astronomers will be able to narrow down the exact distance of the closest approach before the encounter because 2013 TX68 is currently approaching from the direction of the sun, and will remain hidden in glare until it passes.
“On the day of the flyby, it should brighten dramatically as it moves away from the sun and hopefully one of the large asteroid survey programs that scan the sky every night will pick it up again,” Taylor says. “New observations will reduce the uncertainties on the orbit tremendously and determine just how close the asteroid came to Earth.”
More at site
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Nice to know we'll know how close it came AFTER the fly by!!!
A small asteroid is currently hurtling toward Earth. And while NASA says there is essentially no chance of impact, it could be a close shave.
Asteroid 2013 TX68 is expected to swing by our planet on March 5. It could pass at a distance of 9 million miles (14 million km), which is a comfortable 35 times farther than the moon. Or it could come as close as 11,000 miles (17,000 km). That’s about half the altitude that our geosynchronous satellites orbit (but it’s not expected that any satellites will be in danger).
The reason for the wide variance in estimates is, essentially, lack of data. The asteroid was discovered and last seen in 2013 by the Catalina Sky Survey. At the time, scientists were only able to gather data on it for three days before it passed in front of the sun and was lost in glare.
“While astronomers could determine an orbit for the asteroid, there was some uncertainty in the orbital parameters [or its specific flight trajectory],” says Patrick Taylor, an asteroid scientist at Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. Since then, Taylor says, the predictions on its path “have diverged a bit.”
Taylor says it’s unlikely astronomers will be able to narrow down the exact distance of the closest approach before the encounter because 2013 TX68 is currently approaching from the direction of the sun, and will remain hidden in glare until it passes.
“On the day of the flyby, it should brighten dramatically as it moves away from the sun and hopefully one of the large asteroid survey programs that scan the sky every night will pick it up again,” Taylor says. “New observations will reduce the uncertainties on the orbit tremendously and determine just how close the asteroid came to Earth.”
More at site
_________________________________________________________________________
Nice to know we'll know how close it came AFTER the fly by!!!
