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Tag: Spaceguard

  • Asteroid in 2040 Will Miss the Earth, Just Barely

    An asteroid discovered just last year and given tentative 1 in 500 odds of hitting the Earth in February 2040 is now no longer a danger to the planet, according to astronomers.

    Data gathered using the Gemini North telescope in Mauna Kea, Hawaii has confirmed that asteroid 2011 AG5 will not be slamming into Earth. Astronomers at the University of Hawaii and NASA‘s Near-Earth Object Program (Spaceguard) were able to refine their calculations of the asteroid’s trajectory using the data.

    “These were extremely difficult observations of a very faint object,” said Richard Wainscoat, a Gemini team member. “We were surprised by how easily the Gemini telescope was able to recover such a faint asteroid so low in the sky.”

    2011 AG5 is 140 meters in diameter – around the length of two American football fields. If the asteroid were to hit the Earth, it would release around 100 megatons of energy, which is thousands of times more powerful than the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War II.

    The discovery of 2011 AG5 was made by NASA’s Catalina Sky Survey. Original estimates gave the object a 0.2% chance of colliding with the Earth. A NASA contingency deflection analysis was conducted prior to the new data, showing a 95% likelihood of new data eliminating the asteroid as a threat. The agency stated that its experience studying 2011 AG5 demonstrates that it is “well situated” to predict the trajectories of asteroids that threaten the Earth.

  • NASA Video Shows Three-Mile-Long Asteroid Swing By Earth

    On Wednesday, December 12, the three-mile-long asteroid named “Toutatis” made its closest approach to earth. NASA scientists working at the Deep Space Network antenna in Goldstone, California were able to capture radar images of the object as it swung by. The images have been assembled into a video showing the asteroid as it tumbled past Earth.

    Toutatis was only 6.9 million kilometers (4.3 million miles) from Earth at its closest approach, about 18 times the distance between the Earth and the moon. The radar images indicate that it is elongated and irregularly shaped, with ridges and possibly craters. Astronomers also stated there were some “interesting” bright glints in the images that could indicate surface boulders. The asteroid rotates very slowly, rotating every 5.4 days and precessing every 7.4 days. The images that make up the video were taken over the course of two days on Wednesday and Thursday.

    The orbit of the asteroid is well understood, and the Earth was not in any danger. NASA detects and tracks asteroids and comets that pass close to Earth through the Near-Earth Object Observations Program, also known as “Spaceguard.” Over the next four centuries (the time in which the object’s motion can be accurately computed) there is no possibility of Toutatis hitting the Earth. In 2069, the asteroid will pass only 3 million kilometers (1.8 million miles) from Earth.

  • Near-Earth Asteroid Imaged by NASA

    Near-Earth Asteroid Imaged by NASA

    NASA scientists announced today that they have created multiple radar images showing the near-Earth asteroid named 2007 PA8. The images were generated using data collected from the 70-meter Deep Space Network antenna in Goldstone, California on October 28 through October 30. During that time, the asteroid ranged from 10 million kilometers (6.5 million miles) to only 9 million kilometers (5.6 million miles) from Earth.

    NASA states that 2007 PA8 is an elongated, irregularly shaped object about 1.6 kilometers (one mile) wide. The asteroid also has ridges and, “perhaps,” craters. The data also suggests that the object rotates very slowly, taking three to four days for a full rotation.

    2007 PA8 was chosen, scientists said, because of its size and proximity to Earth at its closest approach. On the morning of November 5 the asteroid was only 6.5 million kilometers (4 million miles) from Earth, which is around 17 times the distance from the Earth to the moon.

    Much like this week’s announcement of the Hergenrother comet break-up, NASA assuaged fears by stating that the trajectory of 2007 PA8 is well understood, and that this month’s approach was the asteroid’s closest Earth flyby for at least the next 200 years. The object was tracked and characterized by the Near-Earth Object Observations Program, or “Spaceguard.” The program uses ground and space telescopes to detect, track, and characterize asteroids and comets passing close to Earth. It then plots their orbits to determine whether they could be “potentially hazardous” to Earth.

    (Image courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech/Gemini)