march 5 - asteroid 2013 TX68

[ArMaP]

I don't understand how it works but 0.000207036775709591AU min distance sounds like nearly no percent of an AU from us? what did you divide by?

0.02% of the distance between Earth and the Sun (the AU) is still a big distance.

[Dyna]

0.02% of the distance between Earth and the Sun (the AU) is still a big distance.

I see what you did I guess I missed my Ginko.Didn't even not the"metres".
Ah unless there is more stuff traveling with it, but since it is not real big I am not worried.

[Dyna]

Has the twin comets been mentioned I was just reading this?

Comet P/2016 BA14 (Pan-STARRS) will safely pass Earth on March 22,2016, passing even closer than comet 252P. Comet P/2016 BA14 flyby will be at just 2,199,933 miles (3.5 million km) or about 9 lunar distances, which is very close for a comet. In fact, this comet – P/2016 BA14 – will set a record as the third-closest known comet to pass our planet in recorded history.

A pair of comets showing very similar orbits are approaching Earth. While both will pass at a safe distance, one of them will have a record-breakingly close flyby. Comet 252P/LINEAR 12 was already known to be passing by Earth on March 21, 2016 at a distance of 3,290,000 miles (5.3 million km). This is about 14 times the Earth-Moon distance, and, taken by itself, sets no record.

Neat website
http://www.hohmanntransfer.com/

So many fireballs lately!
Meteor 'bright flash' seen in skies over Scotland
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-35689551

[space otter]

wow thanks Dyna....

isn't amazing how  the media is telling us about countries getting ready to shoot them down..
kinda makes ya wonder just what they know about it and aren't sharing..
guess we'll need more than little alum hats..

[space otter]

http://www.space.com/32113-asteroid-2013-tx68-earth-flyby-uncertainty.html


By Mike Wall, Space.com Senior Writer |  March 2, 2016 07:00am ET

Uncertainty Surrounds Asteroid Near-Earth Flyby Next Week

This graphic depicts the orbit of asteroid 2013 TX68, which will fly by Earth on March 8, 2016. The asteroid poses no threat to Earth during this flyby or in the foreseeable future. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech



A decent-size asteroid will zoom past Earth next week, but astronomers aren't sure exactly when the flyby will happen, or just how close the space rock is going to get.

The latest observations suggest that the 100-foot-wide (30 meters) near-Earth asteroid 2013 TX68 will come within about 3 million miles (5 million kilometers) of Earth's surface on March 8, NASA researchers said.
But it's also possible that the space rock will get much, much closer — 15,000 miles (24,000 km) or so, which is inside the planet's ring of geostationary satellites.

Despite all of the uncertainty — researchers originally thought the flyby was going to happen on Saturday (March 5) — there is nothing to fear from 2013 TX68, scientists said. The space rock has no chance of hitting Earth on this pass, or on any future close approaches over the next century.

"There is no concern whatsoever regarding this asteroid — unless you were interested in seeing it with a telescope," Paul Chodas, manager of NASA's Center for Near-Earth Object Studies at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, said in a statement.

"Prospects for observing this asteroid, which were not very good to begin with, are now even worse because the asteroid is likely to be farther away, and therefore dimmer than previously believed," Chodas added.

- See more at: http://www.space.com/32113-asteroid-2013-tx68-earth-flyby-uncertainty.html#sthash.KeYsgVRp.dpuf

[space otter]

http://earthsky.org/space/asteroid-2013-tx68-uncertain-trajectory-closest-earth-mar-5-2016

UPDATE MARCH 7, 2016. Asteroid 2013 TX68 safely passed by Earth on Monday morning. According to the Minor Planet Center, the space rock's closest approach occurred on March 7 at 13:42 UTC (8:42 ET) at a distance of 2,542,960 miles (4,092,497 km) from Earth, just a bit closer than the nominal 3 million miles previously estimated. The space rock approached our planet a few hours earlier than expected. The previous estimate indicated asteroid 2013 TX68 was due to pass by Earth around March 7 at 7:06 pm ET (March 8 at 00:06 UTC).

Translate to your time zone.

The flyby distance was about 10.64 times the Earth-moon distance, and the next closest approach dates predictions may change again, as the asteroid's orbit is better understood and more precisely defined using new observations.

Source: https://www.facebook.com/MinorPlanetCenter

Read more about the uncertainties leading up to this object's closest sweep past Earth today ... below.

In the days leading up to this pass by 2013 TX68, astronomers were highly uncertain as to the asteroid's closest distance to us. They knew it would not strike Earth, but – prior to today's pass – the most recent estimate indicated a nominal or most probable distance of 3,104,591 miles (4,996,355 km).

However, the space rock might have passed as closely as 19,000 miles (30,000 km) or as far as 10,722,990 miles (17,256,980 km).

Astronomers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory said the variation in possible nearest distances for this asteroid was due to the wide range of possible trajectories for this object, which was tracked for only a short time after its discovery in 2013.

In the days leading up to its closest approach to us, Marco Micheli of the European Space Agency's NEO Coordination Centre (NEOCC/SpaceDys) in Frascati, Italy, realized that this object – which was observed only briefly in 2013 before going into a region of the sky lit by the sun's glare – was visible on some images a few days before it was officially detected on October 6, 2013. The new images let scientists roughly refine its trajectory, but just a bit.

Asteroid 2013 TX68 is travelling at a speed of 34,279 miles per hour (55,166 km/h).

According to the orbit predictions during the past two weeks, the asteroid may pass by our planet again on September 18, 2056. However, the next closest approach dates predictions will change again, now that it has swept past us.

Why has there been so much uncertainty about this object?

It's the scenario that astronomers have always cautioned us about ... the fact that asteroid 2013 TX68 approached Earth from the sun's direction. In late February, the space rock was still approaching Earth from this direction, although the asteroid was actually at a greater distance from us than our star.

In other words, for most of the past few weeks, it has been in the daytime sky, where astronomers could not observe it.

The uncertainty of the exact date of closest approach, as well as the precise orbit, was due to the fact that asteroid 2013 TX68 was just observed during 10 days (including the newly found pre-discovery images). That is still a short time to define an orbit precisely.

On February 11, 2016, NASA removed asteroid 2013 TX68 from a list of space rocks with possibilities of future impact with Earth over the next 100 years.

Preliminary estimates of the size of asteroid 2013 TX68 suggest the space rock has a diameter of 30 meters (98 ft), which is about twice the size of the Chelyabinsk meteor that entered over Russian skies in February, 2013.

If a space rock of this size were to enter our atmosphere, it would produce a shock wave at least twice as intense as that of the Chelyabinsk meteor, which broke windows in six Russian cities – caused more than 1,500 people to seek medical care, mostly due to cuts from flying glass – and did other damage to thousands of buildings.



Orbit of asteroid 2013 TX68. The small arrow depicts the direction of the space rock, showing the asteroid is coming approximately from the sun's direction, as seen from the perspective of Earth. Image via NASA/JPL-Caltech.


Bottom line: Astronomers now know that asteroid 2013 TX68 safely passed by Earth on Monday morning, March 7, 2016. According to the Minor Planet Center, the space rock's closest approach occurred on at 13:42 UTC (8:42 ET) at a distance of 2,542,960 miles (4,092,497 km) from Earth.

[thorfourwinds]

Perhaps we were lucky this time.
Enjoy a brief interlude.