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Asteroids, meteors, and meteorites
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| smjjames | Date: Tuesday, 11.12.2012, 21:47 | Message # 1 |
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| We shouldn't leave out these members of our solar system. 
Basically, post any news, images, etc, of asteroids and comets. Stuff about meteors or meteorites could also go here.
Toutatis flyby: http://www.space.com/18843-asteroid-toutatis-flyby-webcasts.html
Meanwhile *object zings by*: http://www.space.com/18854-newfound-asteroid-close-flyby-earth.html
Of the two, Toutatis would be a bigger threat as it'd be on the level of a civilization ending, possibly even a species killing impact. However, that doesn't mean that the smaller one isn't a threat, it's still big enough to be a city killer if it struck a populated area, or it may create a blast like Tunguska.
Edited by smjjames - Monday, 28.01.2013, 15:40 |
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| Tim | Date: Friday, 04.01.2013, 12:59 | Message # 2 |
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| http://www.kiss.caltech.edu/study/asteroid/asteroid_final_report.pdf
This blew my mind. Why go to an asteroid for resources if we can bring the asteroid to us.
In fact, NASA considers to try and bring an asteroid in orbit of the Moon by 2025.
Let's hope they don't make any mistakes and that asteroid heads for Earth eh :P
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| HarbingerDawn | Date: Friday, 04.01.2013, 13:07 | Message # 3 |
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| (Tim) Let's hope they don't make any mistakes and that asteroid heads for Earth eh :P
Any asteroid small enough to be captured and moved by current spacecraft would be harmless to Earth and would just burn up in the atmosphere.
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| Tim | Date: Friday, 04.01.2013, 13:29 | Message # 4 |
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| I was mainly joking with that line :P
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| HarbingerDawn | Date: Tuesday, 22.01.2013, 02:15 | Message # 5 |
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| Composite image of near-Earth asteroid Toutatis by the former Chinese lunar probe Chang'E 2
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| smjjames | Date: Monday, 28.01.2013, 15:41 | Message # 6 |
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| Modified the thread title to reflect the fact that there is already a thread for comets and that this one is more about space rocks.
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| neutronium76 | Date: Saturday, 09.02.2013, 15:25 | Message # 7 |
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| A small one is coming close: http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news174.html
Here's a small video:
I wonder if it will be visible from earth's surface with small telescope/binoculars 
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| midtskogen | Date: Saturday, 09.02.2013, 19:52 | Message # 8 |
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| Quote (neutronium76) I wonder if it will be visible from earth's surface with small telescope/binoculars
Yes, but it will be hard to spot because it will move swiftly. Use small magnification.
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| Watsisname | Date: Sunday, 10.02.2013, 08:45 | Message # 9 |
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| At ~8th magnitude it will be about as bright as Saturn's moon Titan. So if you can spot Titan, you can theoretically spot the asteroid. But as midtskogen says, smaller magnifications are better, because it will be moving very swiftly; about a degree per minute at closest approach.
For anyone interested in the challenge of trying to spot it, my suggestion is to use an ephemeris set for your location (since it's so close geocentric parallax will be very significant), find a bright star that it will pass close to, and watch that FOV carefully as it's due to zip by. I'd also recommend syncing your watch with the exact time; because you'll need all the precision with timing that you can get. Even the seconds will matter.
Here in the US the sun doesn't set until the asteroid is outbound to the north and already down to 12th magnitude, which is too faint to see from my home. I might be able to see it if I drive out to a dark site with the 8" scope, but I'm probably not going to bother at this time of year. 
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| HarbingerDawn | Date: Friday, 15.02.2013, 08:03 | Message # 10 |
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| ENORMOUS METEOR OVER RUSSIA!
Even more dramatic view:
Explosion noise:
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Edited by HarbingerDawn - Friday, 15.02.2013, 08:51 |
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| midtskogen | Date: Friday, 15.02.2013, 08:49 | Message # 11 |
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| Wow. That's a brightness comparable to the sun. That one looks likely to have produced a trail of thousands of meteorites. More videos.
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| HarbingerDawn | Date: Friday, 15.02.2013, 09:03 | Message # 12 |
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Cosmic Curator
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| Emily Lakdawalla assembled a great list of video links (unfortunately she's gone to sleep now, but the list is still good)
http://www.planetary.org/blogs....es.html
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| Watsisname | Date: Friday, 15.02.2013, 09:08 | Message # 13 |
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| Impressive! I've seen a few very bright fireballs before, maybe down to -15th magnitude, but a meteor like that is a once in a lifetime experience! It'll be interesting to see what if anything gets recovered.
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| HarbingerDawn | Date: Friday, 15.02.2013, 09:19 | Message # 14 |
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| Quote (Watsisname) It'll be interesting to see what if anything gets recovered.
Stuff will definitely be recovered, I think at least one fragment has been reported already. A meteor this size in an area this populated is probably a once-per-century or more kind of event. It's also been reported that 100+ people have been injured.
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| Voekoevaka | Date: Friday, 15.02.2013, 09:30 | Message # 15 |
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| Today it is the approach of 2012da14.
Great videos, Harb.
I remember one day I saw a huge explosion in the sky, but not as strong at that.
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