An asteroid the size of a minibus passing extremely close to Earth today .The asteroid Lutetia

[link to www.dagbladet.no]

anime at link . something for the GLP observatory

An asteroid the size of a minibus passing extremely close to Earth on Monday, but there is no danger that it will take us, say astronomers. On his next at 15.26, Norwegian time, the asteroid 2011 MD skinny 12 000 km of the coast of Antarctica.

This is only 0.05 times as far away as the moon, and well within the path to include the GPS satellites (see animation at the bottom of the case).

The chances of a satellite collision is vanishingly small. The little asterioden, with an estimated diameter of between six and 14 meters, the court greatly disturbed by the earth's relatively huge gravity and "being turned around and nearly sent back to where it came from," says planetary researcher Pasquale Tricarico at the Planetary Science Institute. Astronomers say that the analysis of the court shows "no chance that it will want to see" the earth, but the consequences would otherwise only been an outstanding fireworks when it burned up in the atmosphere. The asteroid is too small to pose any danger. -

asteroid with a diameter of less than 25 meters breaks in the Earth atmosphere, and will not cause damage to the surface, reports NASA Asteroid Watch . It should in theory be possible to see the 2011 MD with a moderately large amateur telescopes in the hours before the crossing, but in practice very difficult.

It will be around 250 less bright than the weakest stars that are visible to the naked eye. - You do an excellent star atlas. And since it moves very quickly, you need the latest data from the Minor Planet Center to track the precise exchange rate against the background stars, the sound advice from Space.com . The asteroid was discovered by the Lincoln Near Earth Asteroid Research (LINEAR)

There are about 8,000 known NEO's, and such Near miss occurs on average every six years. Monday is the fifth densest ever recorded, according to a list compiled by the Minor Planet Center of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) .

Thread: ESA’s Rosetta mission has returned the first close-up images of asteroid Lutetia

ESA’s Rosetta mission has returned the first close-up images of asteroid Lutetia

Last Edited by antwan on 06/26/2011 07:48 PM