Newly discovered asteroids closely approaching earth.

[EarthlingX]

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov : Small Asteroid to Pass Within Earth-Moon System Tuesday

October 11, 2010


A newly-discovered car-sized asteroid will fly past Earth early Tuesday. The asteroid, 2010 TD54, will make its closest approach to Earth at 6:51 EDT a.m. (3:51 a.m. PDT). Image credit: NASA/JPL

PASADENA, Calif. -- A small asteroid will fly past Earth early Tuesday within the Earth-moon system. The asteroid, 2010 TD54, will have its closest approach to Earth's surface at an altitude of about 45,000 kilometers (27,960 miles) at 6:50 EDT a.m. (3:50 a.m. PDT). At that time, the asteroid will be over southeastern Asia in the vicinity of Singapore. During its flyby, Asteroid 2010 TD54 has zero probability of impacting Earth. A telescope of the NASA-sponsored Catalina Sky Survey north of Tucson, Arizona discovered 2010 TD54 on Oct. 9 at (12:55 a.m. PDT) during routine monitoring of the skies.

2010 TD54 is estimated to be about 5 to 10 meters (16 to 33 feet) wide. Due to its small size, the asteroid would require a telescope of moderate size to be viewed. A five-meter-sized near-Earth asteroid from the undiscovered population of about 30 million would be expected to pass daily within a lunar distance, and one might strike Earth's atmosphere about every 2 years on average. If an asteroid of the size of 2010 TD54 were to enter Earth's atmosphere, it would be expected to burn up high in the atmosphere and cause no damage to Earth's surface.

The distance used on the Near Earth Object page ) is always the calculated distance from the center of Earth. The distance stated for 2010 TD54 is 52,000 kilometers (32,000 miles). To get the distance it will pass from Earth's surface you need to subtract the distance from the center to the surface (which varies over the planet), or about one Earth radii. That puts the pass distance at about 45,500 kilometers (28,000 miles) above the planet. NASA detects, tracks and characterizes asteroids and comets passing close to Earth using both ground-and space-based telescopes. The Near-Earth Object Observations Program, commonly called "Spaceguard," discovers these objects, characterizes a subset of them, and plots their orbits to determine if any could be potentially hazardous to our planet.

JPL manages the Near-Earth Object Program Office for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

More information about asteroids is available at http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/asteroidwatch/ . You can also follow the latest news about asteroids on Twitter at @asteroidwatch .

 

[MeteorWayne]

AAAUuuRHhhHhh, lost my first attempt at this post to a power hit. Take 2

As seems to happen with the tiny close approach asteroids, the observation count for 2010 TD54 is skyrocketing. Already 62 obs in 2 days. (Sentry data, NEODyS not updated)

The close approach time has advanced 2 minutes to 10:49 UTC tomorrow, Oct 12 (A bit less than 8 hours from now)

The distance is reduced a bit, to (nominal distance) 51,789 km (32,180 miles) from the earth's center, or about 45,420 km from the surface. Minimum distance (1 sigma) is about 75 km less. 0% chance of impact.

Number of listed close approaches to other objects have increased. Passes about 1 LD from the moon 2 hours after earth CA. Venus in November this year and 2016, Vesta in 2029, Earth in 2055,2057,2068, and 2126, Mars in 2071 and 2127, and Venus in 2129 and 2135. Obviously, they are manually running the projection past the automatic 2110 cutoff.

MW

 

[MeteorWayne]

2010 TD54 including 76 observations through 01:50 UT.

No change to timing (10:49 UTC, about 40 minutes from now) or nominal distance (51,789 km from earth center). Uncertainty in CA distance reduced to 51 km.

Future close appoaches trimmed.

Moon, 2 hours after earth CA, 317,000 km

Venus Nov 9 (Sentry only) 0.09 AU
Venus 2016 (Sentry only) 0.07 AU
4 Vesta 2029 (Sentry and NEODyS) 0.02/0.03 AU
Mars 2030 (NEODyS only) 0.02 AU
Earth 2033 (NEODyS only) 0.11 AU
Earth 2044 (Sentry and NEODyS) 0.10 AU
Earth 2046 (Sentry only) 0.41 AU
Earth 2068 (NEODyS only) 0.07 AU

 

[MeteorWayne]

I see 2010 TD54 was briefly on the Sentry risk page; I missed seeing it there. Removed 2010-10-11 08:53 UTC.

MW

 

[MeteorWayne]

DING!!

It's Close Approach time.... oops, there it went

 

[EarthlingX]

WooOOoosh....

http://www.universetoday.com : Video: Asteroid 2010 TD54 Whizzes Close to Earth

Oct 12th, 2010

by Nancy Atkinson


A 'movie' put together from images of the October 12, 2010 approach of asteroid 2010 TD54. Image credit: Patrick Wiggins, NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador to Utah

Amateur astronomer Patrick Wiggins from Utah (and fellow Solar System Ambassador) was able to capture images this morning of the newly found asteroid 2010 TD54 that whizzed by Earth — harmlessly — coming within about 46,000 km (less than 30,000 miles) of our planet. The small asteroid was only detected this past Saturday, and NASA’s Near Earth Object Office predicted there was only 1 in a million chance it would hit Earth, and was small enough that it wouldn’t survive a fiery trip through the atmosphere even if it was going to make crash head-on into Earth. Patrick put together a couple of “movies” from the images he captured. They show the asteroid whispering silently through the sky, although moving along fairly quickly at 17.37 km/s. Estimates are the asteroid is about 7.3 m wide, and contained the energy about about 22 kilotons if it would have come crashing through Earth’s atmosphere. For this animation, the mount was set to allow the target to pass through the field of view, and includes 16 five-second exposures shot between 08:51:51 and 08:54:04 UTC.

There’s an additional image below.


In this animation, asteroid 2010 TD54 appears stationary as the stars move. Image credit: Patrick Wiggins, NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador to Utah

...

 

[silylene]

It looks like TD54 has a periodic rapid change in brightness. It would be interesting to map magnitude vs time, to see how fast it is rotating.

 

[MeteorWayne]

I did that; it came out to about 30 sec between minima (they were easier to judge than the brightness peaks) of course with only a few cycles, it's hard to be sure there weren't mutiple, different minima.

 

[silylene]

I did that; it came out to about 30 sec between minima (they were easier to judge than the brightness peaks) of course with only a few cycles, it's hard to be sure there weren't mutiple, different minima.

If that's the same minima, that's pretty fast. I guess TD54 is too small to be a rubble pile, and wouldn't be torn apart by this rapid rate of rotation.

 

[MeteorWayne]

My thoughts exactly.

 

[MeteorWayne]

New obs reported for 2010 TD54 (108 obs over 3 days). Small refinements to the close approach yesterday. Nominal distance reduced to 51,785 km (4 km closer), and uncertainty in that is reduced to 25 km.

 

[MeteorWayne]

Next up, 2010 TG19, discovered 10/7, now 60 observations over 5 days. Decent size, 43-97 meters, close appoach at 1.1 lunar distance on Oct 22 ~ 1500 UTC. (15 day lead time). H=23.9

It is not on the Sentry risk page.

 

[MeteorWayne]

Another small one (6-15m), 2010 TE55, discovered Oct 12. 46 obs over 1 day. Close approach at 1.0 LD at 01:21 UTC Oct 17. I haven't checked who discovered it yet, but I know where I'd place my bet...

It is not on the Sentry risk page.

 

[MeteorWayne]

Here's one discovered 2 days after close approach at 0.9 LD on 10/11. 2010 TN55, 10-23 meters. 17 obs over 1 day (10/13). It's on the risk page with 40 potential impacts between 2057 and 2105, Cumulative PS -6.19, max -6.83.

 

[MeteorWayne]

Another tiny (6-13 m dia) asteroid discovered after close approach.
CA Nov 2 at 0.3 Lunar Distance. Discovered Nov 4.
Currently buried low on the Sentry risk page with 5 potential impacts from 2050-2066.
Cumulative PS -7.34, Max -7.55. That's VERY low risk...

MW

 

[MeteorWayne]

New tiny (4-9 m dia) asteroid 2010 VR21, discovered 11/6, Close Approach at 0.9 LD today, Nov 7.
Not on the current Sentry risk page.

 

[MeteorWayne]

Well, we can pretty much put both of the close approach asteroids in the rear view mirror. Both 2010 RF12, and 201RX30 are now too close to the sun to be observed for at least the next 60 days, and after that will be too far away to be spotted given their tiny dimensions (and therefore faintness). So in the beginning of November, barring any prediscovery images (unlikely) or any obs from two weeks ago that haven't been reported (possible) they will fall off the Sentry "Recently Observed Objects" to the "Objects Not Recently Observed" where they will reside for a long time.

2010 RF12 will move into the 11th riskiest asteroid (ranked by Palermo Scale), and 2010 RX 30 will be no higher than 240th place

MW

This has now occurred. 11th place for 2010 RF12, and the mid 200s for 2010 RX30. There is a brief window for possible observations of 2010 RF12 in May 2011, when we may be able to improve the orbit, but a BIG scope is needed.

2010 RF12 Sentry PS (max and cumulative) -3.32, NEODyS -3.35, all concentrated in the Sept 5/6 2095 potential impactor despite 38 listed for Sentry from 2095-2110. I don't think I'll be attending

2010 RX30 PS is -7.25

MW

 

[MeteorWayne]

New very small (7-16m) asteroid discovered 2 days after close approach at 0.8 LD. 2010 VC140, CA Nov 13, disc Nov 15.
Currently low on the Sentry risk page with 4 potential impacts 2083-2107. BTW, that designation means it was the 3578th object discovered during that 2 week period!!

I thougt I'd mention another on the risk page (not a close approach) since only the asteroid nerds read this thread

The slowest Vinf I've ever seen so far (approach velocity to the earth's gravity well) in 2077; 0.29 km/s, giving an atmospheric impact velocity of 11.15 km/sec all pretty much from the earth's gravity. 2010 UE51.

MW

 

[MeteorWayne]

A very tiny (3-6 m) asteroid, 2010 WA, was discovered about 7 hours before it's close approach at 0.1 LD this morning. Estimated approach above the surface was about 32,500 km. It's not on the Sentry risk page (might not even be for an impact, due to the small size)

It's really amazing that such small asteroids are being found!

MW

 

[adrenalynn]

Semi-OT, but I wanted to thank you for keeping up with these, M-W! I'm busily tuning-up a 7m dish and I'm really hopeful it'll be able to "see" a few of our larger passers-by. Your tracking all these here gives me little targets of opportunity to swing around and try to get a signal for the FFT processor.

 

[MeteorWayne]

What frequency/wavelength are you examining with your 7m dish?

 

[adrenalynn]

I can LNB on L and radio on VHF. L is downconverted into the shack, VHF is into a large preamp and is very sensitive.

Right now I'm set up for m-obs at 1 meter SSB, but that's just looking for ionization, not trying to hunt in the deep sky.

 

[bushwhacker]

Darn Lynn, you in need of a gopher? Your always doin something interesting. I can hammer a nail, drive a screw, or twist a knob with the best of em. Not to mention i make a mean omelet for those cold morning observations ....

 

[adrenalynn]

OT, so I'll send you a PM in a bit.

 

[MeteorWayne]

2010 WK1, 6-14m dia., discovered 11/27, CA at 1.1 LD 11/27.