Asteroid Fly-By on August 18

ke4roh writes "An asteroid will fly near the planet and be visible with binoculars from the northern hemisphere August 18, so says this article. Astronomers say it will cross the sky at 8 degrees per hour and fade out of view as it approaches the sun and hence goes through its various phases - full, gibbous, half... down to nothing. Such a show only comes about twice a century, so take a look before it disappears!" Another reader sends in a few useful links: "Here's the complete article from the folks at NASA Space Science with extra links including details on the astreroid's trajectory."

Comments

Leonid

[rigelstar]

The Leonid meteor shower was a great way for me to introduce my 6 and 3 yr old to astronomy. It was a night I will remember forever, as they will too hopefully. They still talk about the "stars falling from the sky".

My kids are actually really excited about this event. There is nothing betting then getting kids into science then direct experience.

8888

[Tablizer]

It will be visible on August 18th (8/18), move 8 degrees an hour, and have a brightness peak of 8th magnitude?

The astrologists and numerologists are gonna have a field day with this one. Time to get into the fortune business, being that programming is in the dumps.

If the damned thing is also shaped like an "8", then we are never gonna hear the end of it.