Asteroid 2023 DZ2

[wulfrun]

Spotted this on beeb, not noticed a thread about it and it's news to me:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-65061818

Due closest pass by the moon Saturday night. It'll miss the moon & Earth (fortuitously for us!). They're saying binocular visibility.

[Carbon Brush]

You beat me to it😄.
Another big lump passing close by, discovered only recently.

[Paul M]

Sounds interesting!

SkySafari has this in its database, and if the plot is correct, it's below the horizon by the time it gets dark in the UK on Saturday.

Closest approach is 19:51, but as you can see. It's not good for us.

Only opportunity is tonight as it races through cancer. This all assumes that SkySafari's 3 body model is working better than it has done on a few ocassions!

[happy-kat]

It's not being found in my sky safari v3 plus or v5 pro

[Ouroboros]

Oh and guess what? Forecast is for cloud  and rain. Who’d have thunk it, eh? 

[robin_astro]

It is below the horizon at closest approach for us in the UK but it might be possible to pick it up later in the night. Using the latest  ephemeris from Horizons

https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/horizons/app.html#/

It rises above the horizon again for me in the North of England at ~01:30 and is 8 deg above my horizon at 4:30 UT but it will be ~mag 13 by then

Cheers

Robin

[Paul M]

20 minutes ago, robin_astro said:

It is below the horizon at closest approach for us in the UK but it might be possible to pick it up later in the night. Using the latest  ephemeris from Horizons

https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/horizons/app.html#/

It rises above the horizon again for me in the North of England at ~01:30 and is 8 deg above my horizon at 4:30 UT but it will be ~mag 13 by then

Cheers

Robin

Ah, yes. Here it is passing Antares at about 8 degrees alt at 4 am (BST) in the SE.

I think it's a tough one.

[happy-kat]

That's a great link thanks. Yesterday it was high at a good time for me but way too faint, tomorrow I'm not doing the silly o'clock, best of luck to those who try that.

Edited March 25, 2023 by happy-kat