February passing asteroid

[carlos1986]

Can anyone tell me if i heard right about a passing asteroid on February the 14th and if so does anyone know what time it will be passing England

[Extreme Fencer]

Asteroid 2012 DA14 on Feb15th it will pass around 26000 miles south to north trajectory. It's about 45 m across.

http://earthsky.org/space/asteroid-2012-da14-will-pass-very-close-to-earth-in-2013#.UPRa2VwgHCQ

[starman1969]

I've heard about it, too. I must try to see if I can see it through my scope.

[Richardisgreat]

im going to try and view this, lets hope we have clear skies. Maybe i missed it but can anyone tell me where to look in the south around 8pm to find it. Which constellation will it be in?

[SeedyF]

This is going to be so close we ought to be able to hear it roar like the one on Armaggedon (or Deep Impact whichever one it was) .

Its 58m according to Spaceweather but 45 per NASA and should be just under 22,000 miles at its nearest point (34,500 km). I can't wait. Not sure whether it will be on the UK side of the earth but it's closest approach is about 19:30 GMT according to the NASA page. That should make it visible to us in the UK - if my logic is correct!

http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news174.html

[Dave]

I have put details of this on my blog (below in signature) showing the visibility from the UK.

Unfortunately, although it reaches 7th magnitude on that day, by the time it rises for us at about 11:30pm, the magnitude has dropped to below 10.

It passes close to M63 as well, but by this time has faded to 12th magnitude.

So will be a bit of a challenge. But I'm giving it a go, providing it's clear.

[Richardisgreat]

Thanks Dave, will give it a go

[Dave]

The BAA have just released details of this and their path is a bit different to the one C2A gave for me and about 2 hours ahead.

So it should be above the horizon when fairly bright now.

I will probably go with their prediction now. There is a link that same blog entry.

[BinocularSky]

I have put finder charts and ephemeris for this on my Transient Objects page. Should be a binocular object for about 3 hours.

If there are significant changes in the orbital elements as the time nears, I will update both the charts and the ephemeris.

[Richardisgreat]

Thanks Steve, im hoping to give this a go on the 15th. Do you think this would be best viewed with binoculars or a low power eyepiece like a 30mm? Clouds permitting of course

[Cath]

[yesteryeargames]

I would like to at least say i tried, any idea where exactly to look and what time, ( please be gentle im a complete begiiner to this )

[Dave]

...any idea where exactly to look and what time

Have a look at my blog entry: http://www.eagleseye.me.uk/Sky/Wordpress/?p=2159

There is a map on there showing a path where it should be fairly close to.

Dave

[rwilkey]

Hi, I queried the date with Prof. Ian Morison at Jodrell Bank yesterday as he has it down for the 16th on their website, and his answer is most helpful as follows 'It is closest to the Earth on the evening of the 15th but only visible to us around 00:00 UT on the 16th so I believe that I was correct to say the morning of the 16th'. See his article here: http://www.jb.man.ac.uk/astronomy/nightsky/

So, if clear, i will be watching on both the 15th and 16th.

[Tom_m7117]

No doubt will be cloudy that night!!

[Spec-Chum]

"On the 15th of February a big lump of rock will pass extremely close to the Earth.

So close in fact that it will come closer in than the geosynchronous satellites.

Now that’s close!"

So, if my Sky goes off I should call NASA not Sky Customer services?

[JonDoe]

so do they get this close all the time or is this a rare event, in the grand scheme of the universe this seems very close indeed.

[Cath]

it is a bit close for something that size yes. Fortunately it's not going to hit us, not this particular one this time anyway.

[floppygoose]

I suppose we can hope that we at least get a few minutes without clouds, at some point during the transit, so may just catch a glimpse through the binos.

Phil

[Photosbykev]

Using todays data from the Minor Planet centre to update my Starry Night programme I get this track on Friday 15th

The video runs from 18:00 to 00:00. As always best viewed in Youtube

[Ouroboros]

The Sky at Night programme suggests looking for it from around 20:30 onwards as it heads across Ursa Major, which seems to contradict what some of you are saying.

The relevant section is about 18.5 minutes into this episode http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/bigscreen/tv/episode/b01qhlhq

[BinocularSky]

Do you think this would be best viewed with binoculars or a low power eyepiece like a 30mm?

Ideal object for medium-sized binoculars, like a 15x70.

any idea where exactly to look and what time

See link in my previous post; it has positions marked every 10 minutes.

Using todays data from the Minor Planet centre to update my Starry Night programme

Are those heliocentric or geocentric elements that you used? If the former, expect the position to be out by a long way, especially if Starry Night (like most planetarium programs) uses a two-body solution (usually adequate, but not for something this close) instead of a numerically integrated/iterative one. (I have no idea which it uses.) Also, because of the parallax due to its closeness, you must run a topocentric, not geocentric, track.

There's some geocentric ephemerides, based on recent observations, at the bottom of http://www.projectpl...//temp/da14.htm

[Chris Rowland]

Predictions from planetarium programs may not be accurate because they don't account for the Earth's gravity, just the Sun's. The JPL/Horizons site seems to give good positions.

Chris

[swedonator]

When is it going to be seen from Stockholm in Sweden? and where should I look? are there any good apps or websites to track this thing where you are able to set your position?

[skir]

The developers of sky safari have updated the plus and pro versions to be able to give accurate positions for near earth bodies because of this asteroid.