Close asteroid encounter tonight - 10th April

[lukebl]

Hi all,

There's an interesting encounter with an asteroid today and tomorrow. Newly-discovered Asteroid 2011 GP59 will be passing by at half the distance to the moon tomorrow (11th April), and amazingly it brightens very rapidly from about 17th magnitude this morning to about 11th mag tomorrow, before fading back to 17th mag tomorrow evening. So some interesting imaging opportunities there.

It's at its brightest at around 10:00 on 11th April, which isn't any good for us in Europe, but it does get to around 14th mag by midnight tonight in Virgo.

[Eclectic_Mixer]

Interesting Luke, how big is it do we know?

Geoff

[lukebl]

Interesting Luke, how big is it do we know?

Geoff

Apparently about 60m across (see SpaceWeather.com -- News and information about meteor showers, solar flares, auroras, and near-Earth asteroids).

Actually the orbital parameters have changed since my original post, and close encounder is now determined to be on the 15th with a miss distance of 1.4 lunar distances, and a maximum magnitude of 13.

Well, they only discovered it last Friday! Not much warning if it was going to hit us.

[Eclectic_Mixer]

Bookmarked that site in case I have to duck LOL!! Seriously though it would do a lot of damage, probably not an extinction event but certanly a mess would ensue. and alarmingly inaccurate timings and distance predictions.

Geoff

[RogerTheDodger]

From HowStuffWorks "What if an asteroid hit the Earth?"

"Let's say that an asteroid the size of a housecrashed on Earth at 30,000 mph. It would have an amount of energy roughly equal to the bomb that fell on Hiroshima -- perhaps 20 kilotons. An asteroid like this would flatten reinforced concrete buildings up to half a mile from ground zero, and flatten wooden structures perhaps a mile and a half from ground zero. It would, in other words, do extensive damage to any city. If the asteroid is as big as a 20-story building (200 feet on a side), it has an amount of energy equal to the largest nuclear bombs made today -- on the order of 25 to 50 megatons. An asteroid like this would flatten reinforced concrete buildings five miles from ground zero. It would completely destroy most major cities in the United States."

[dave1978]

Is this going to be naked eye visible?

[lukebl]

Is this going to be naked eye visible?

No. mag 13!

[Vega]

Amazing! .. and scary at the same time. 60m and discovered a couple days before closest approach. Not the first time this has happened and certainly wont be the last me thinks.

Thanks for the heads up to keep heads down

Matt

[lukebl]

Amazing! .. and scary at the same time. 60m and discovered a couple days before closest approach. Not the first time this has happened and certainly wont be the last me thinks.

Thanks for the heads up to keep heads down

Matt

What's scary is that they often discover them after they've gone past. That happens quite often! No warning at all!

Anyone remember Tintin in 'The Shooting Star'? One of my favourite stories when I was a kid. About an asteroid heading towards the earth and hits it but, despite predictions, doesn't destroy it. Contains a new element which has strange properties. A great yarn.

[ZEbbEDY]

As long as its not one of these bad boys

[Axe]

As long as its not one of these bad boys

aslong as im on the ISS that day....lol

[garethmob]

As long as its not one of these bad boys

life millions of years in the makings...... extinguished in seconds