Near earth asteroid 2001 FO32

[davhei]

It seems this long monitored asteroid is passing close to earth (five times the earth lunar distance) around March 21st 2021 at which time it is reportedly expected to reach an apparent magnitude of 11.7. Easily within reach of moderate aperture scopes.

Indications are that it is in the southern hemisphere with limited visibility from the north.

It would be nice to get coordinates but I have been unable to find any. Anyone else?

Some info here:

https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/asteroid-2001-fo32-will-safely-pass-by-earth-march-21

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/(231937)_2001_FO32

 

[Paul M]

Skysafari has it in its database.

Looks like a very difficult dawn object around the 21st.

Here are somecscreen shots. The last one showing the orbital elements. 

[davhei]

Thanks! Looks quite difficult.

[John]

It's going to be a tough one to spot from northern Europe I think !

I observed one of these a few years back - quite eerie to see this tiny dot of light creeping along against the backdrop of stars !

 

Edited March 12, 2021 by John

[Paul M]

I remember one from a few years ago. DA31 or something but that had a very high inclination and passed near the NCP. Could almost see its motion with a casual glance.

It was that object's passage that saw Skysafari's orbital model updated to one better suited to near Earth objects and the Three Body Problem.

Maybe out of loyalty I usually gravitate ( ) towards Skysafari for such objects.

 

 

 

[Paul M]

I installed this object in Stellarium (via the Solar System plug-in and MPC download option) just for another view. Then using the ephemerides tool created a plot.

I'm fairly sure this one is for hard core northerners only! I doubt it'll be visible under any conditions on the 21st but it does rapidly head off into the Square of Pegasus but still never gaining much distance from the horizon during darkness.

 

[lukebl]

I think you can forget about viewing this from northern latitudes. According to the JPL Horizons website, which calculates ephemerides for all solar system objects, on the 21st it’ll be around magnitude 12, but at a declination of 40 deg S, so not visible from Northern Europe. It then rapidly swings north at closest approach, but plummets to around magnitude 20 by the following night.

[Paul M]

I got the ephemerides for this chap from the MPC, mostly because they seem to be the definitive disseminators of minor planet data and their website is a walk in the park  . I wonder how often and by how much JPL Horizons and MPC disagree?

EDIT:

I just ran the ephemerides in Stellarium again and copied the numeric table:

Name	Date and time	RA (J2000)	Dec (J2000)	Mag.	Phase	Dist., AU	Elong.
(231937)	2021-03-18 04:30:00	13h42m29.9s	-36°37'12.8"	16.47	86.63%	0.070493	+134°20'07.8"
(231937)	2021-03-19 04:30:00	14h02m41.2s	-38°08'56.5"	15.56	84.39%	0.051118	+131°18'45.3"
(231937)	2021-03-20 04:30:00	14h49m18.8s	-40°39'24.2"	14.57	78.82%	0.032377	+123°40'32.0"
(231937)	2021-03-21 04:30:00	17h28m15.2s	-39°53'24.3"	14.57	56.53%	0.016539	+96°33'20.3"
(231937)	2021-03-22 04:30:00	21h58m25.0s	-0°23'45.2"	18.96	7.74%	0.016986	+31°46'38.4"
(231937)	2021-03-23 04:30:00	23h26m10.8s	+18°16'35.0"	22.08	3.30%	0.033071	+20°14'58.4"
(231937)	2021-03-24 04:30:00	23h56m55.1s	+23°42'24.5"	22.01	4.27%	0.051874	+22°39'20.2"
(231937)	2021-03-25 04:30:00	0h11m57.8s	+26°04'18.7"	22.02	5.11%	0.071296	+24°19'25.1"
(231937)	2021-03-26 04:30:00	0h20m48.4s	+27°21'27.1"	22.13	5.70%	0.090966	+25°11'38.6"
(231937)	2021-03-27 04:30:00	0h26m36.0s	+28°08'47.4"	22.25	6.12%	0.110779	+25°36'00.3"
(231937)	2021-03-28 05:30:00	0h30m40.6s	+28°39'55.6"	22.38	6.45%	0.130700	+25°43'51.6"
(231937)	2021-03-29 05:30:00	0h33m41.7s	+29°01'10.6"	22.50	6.71%	0.150716	+25°41'27.6"
(231937)	2021-03-30 05:30:00	0h36m00.9s	+29°15'51.2"	22.60	6.93%	0.170828	+25°32'26.3"
(231937)	2021-03-31 05:30:00	0h37m51.2s	+29°25'51.2"	22.69	7.13%	0.191042	+25°19'02.8"

Indeed it is very far south on the 21st but it makes, shall we say, good progress over 24 hrs. By which time it will have most likely faded below the sky brightness!

Maybe not so much hoping someone bags this as daring them to try!

Edited March 13, 2021 by Paul M