[meteorite-list] Asteroid 2007 TU24 to Make Rare Close Flyby of Earth January 29

From: Jerry <grf2_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Fri, 25 Jan 2008 22:36:11 -0500
Message-ID: <2DAC4CC1B48F42CDA16A9A0E3F5D0446_at_Notebook>

Looks like Perseus will be the center of attention once again.
With Comet Holmes all but gone, Asteroid 2007 TU24 will glide through
Perseus on the evening of Jan 29 between 7pm and midnight EST. For those of
us lucky enough to have no cloud cover, a late rising moon will not
interfere with viewing.
It appears to be moving swiftly enough at that time to be distinguishable
from background stars if one is patient enough to spend an hour+ studying a
telescopic [or good binocular] image.
My own long range weather forecast is not promising
Jerry Flaherty
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ron Baalke" <baalke at zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>
To: "Meteorite Mailing List" <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Friday, January 25, 2008 11:44 AM
Subject: [meteorite-list] Asteroid 2007 TU24 to Make Rare Close Flyby of
Earth January 29


>
> http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2008-012
>
> Asteroid to Make Rare Close Flyby of Earth January 29
> Jet Propulsion Laboratory
> January 24, 2008
>
> Scientists are monitoring the orbit of asteroid 2007 TU24. The asteroid,
> believed to be between 150 meters (500 feet) and 610 meters (2,000 feet)
> in size, is expected to fly past Earth on Jan. 29, with its closest
> distance being about 537,500 kilometers (334,000 miles) at 12:33 a.m.
> Pacific time (3:33 a.m. Eastern time). It should be observable that
> night by amateur astronomers with modest-sized telescopes.
>
> Asteroid 2007 TU24 was discovered by the NASA-sponsored Catalina Sky
> Survey on Oct. 11, 2007. Scientists at NASA's Near-Earth Object Program
> Office at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., have
> determined that there is no possibility of an impact with Earth in the
> foreseeable future.
>
> "This will be the closest approach by a known asteroid of this size or
> larger until 2027," said Don Yeomans, manager of the Near Earth Object
> Program Office at JPL. "As its closest approach is about one-and-a-half
> times the distance of Earth to the moon, there is no reason for concern.
> On the contrary, Mother Nature is providing us an excellent opportunity
> to perform scientific observations."
>
> Asteroid 2007 TU24 will reach an approximate apparent magnitude 10.3 on
> Jan. 29-30 before quickly becoming fainter as it moves farther from
> Earth. On that night, the asteroid will be observable in dark and clear
> skies through amateur telescopes with apertures of at least 7.6
> centimeters (3 inches). An object with a magnitude of 10.3 is about 50
> times fainter than an object just visible to the naked eye in a clear,
> dark sky.
>
> NASA detects and tracks asteroids and comets passing close to Earth. The
> Near Earth Object Observation Program, commonly called "Spaceguard,"
> discovers, characterizes and computes trajectories for these objects to
> determine if any could be potentially hazardous to our planet.
>
> For more information, visit http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov.
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> DC Agle 818-393-9011
> Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
> agle at jpl.nasa.gov
>
>
> Grey Hautaluoma 202-358-0668
> Headquarters, Washington
> grey.hautaluoma-1 at nasa.gov
>
> 2008-012
>
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Received on Fri 25 Jan 2008 10:36:11 PM PST