Asteroid 2012 DA14 Approaches

Today at about 19:25 UTC (2:25 PM EST), Asteroid 2012 DA14 will make its closest approach to Earth, passing a mere 27,650 kilometers above the surface — closer than our satellites in geosynchronous orbit. NASA is broadcasting a live-steam showing the asteroid from an Observatory, and will have coverage on NASA TV starting about a half-hour before closest approach. The Planetary Society will be broadcasting a live webcast, and Phil Plait will be hosting a Google+ Hangout. NASA has also compiled a nice post filled with information about the asteroid, including trajectory diagrams, animated videos of the path, and answers to question about 2012 DA14. You can also watch it move at 50x actual speed through a telescope. They take pains to note that there is no danger of the asteroid striking the planet today, or any time in the forseeable future. Its next notably close approach in 2046 will only bring it about a million kilometers away. What makes 2012 DA14 significant is that it's rather large — it's 45 meters across and weighs about 130,000 metric tons. It's also moving about 7.8 kilometers per second relative to Earth. "To view the asteroid, you will need a good pair of binoculars, or even better, a moderately powered telescope. During the closest approach, and dependant on local weather, the asteroid will be visible from parts of Europe, Africa and Asia. The asteroid will appear to be moving relatively quickly as it crosses the sky from the south to the north." NASA says this morning's meteor event in Russia was unrelated.

Comments

Strange plants

[Anonymous Coward]

Has anyone noticed these fast grow plants? I dont remenber planting them, but my memory

With Apologies to Futurama

[Anonymous Coward]

"YOU HAVE 72 HOURS TO START BROADCASTING NEW FIREFLY EPISODES. YOU HAVE 72 HOURS TO START BROADCASTING NEW FIREFLY EPISODES. YOU HAVE 72 HOURS TO START BROADCASTING NEW FIREFLY EPISODES."

Re:With Apologies to Futurama

[dywolf]

-OK Nathan, here's the setup. You, Morena, Jewel, Gina, and Summer are all in the ship. And someone releases a love drug. And next thing, all 5 of you are going to town.
-You sure this isn't some fanboy's fantasy?
-Possibly, but he's got a giant rock hanging over LA and demanding that we do this.
-Well sure. I mean...*eyeing fellow cast members*...anything to save the Earth.

Re:With Apologies to Futurama

[Anonymous Coward]

I'll be in my bunk...

Delta-V

[ElizabethGreene]

I wonder how much delta-V it would take to circularize it's orbit? Surely there is something useful we could do with it?

Re:Delta-V

[X0563511]

It's moving about 8km/s relatively, with a periapsis of about 27000km. Orbital speed at GEO is about 3km/s. It has a mass of 190000 metric tons.

You should be able to calculate the delta-V from all that.

are we sure it has nothing to do with DA14?

[circletimessquare]

wouldn't it be possible that for every rock we see in space there are some smaller rocks held in loose gravitational formation?

these things have been out there for a very very long time. plenty of time to pick up loose junk

i mean look at pluto: every time we look at it we find a new pebble moon. pluto is not exactly a gravitational power house. it's just that the neighborhood is full of a lot of flotsam and jetsam

i wouldn't be surprised that deep space objects, no matter the size, are often loose agglomerations of stuff

i think it is very possible that this meteor very much is (was) associated with DA14

Re:are we sure it has nothing to do with DA14?

[HairyNevus]

"On the cosmological scale, it's all relative" - Septimus Signus

Sorry, just picked up Skyrim again after almost a year. But, if your point is that at one point in time, very far off, these two 'hunks of rock' may have been attached then I suppose you're correct. I mean, if the Big Bang was an explosion of matter in space (at one point in time), these hunks of rock may have been very close to the matter that makes up yours or my body at one point. However, I'll trust NASA if they say that for our purposes, that on a smaller timescale, these two have nothing to do with each other.

Re:are we sure it has nothing to do with DA14?

[circletimessquare]

if the loose gravitational agglomeration is large enough, it's possible for the smaller rock to pass by on the other side of the earth, swinging around and appearing to come from another direction

Re:are we sure it has nothing to do with DA14?

[Clueless Moron]

No... if that meteorite was in an orbit 30,000km radius from DA14 (which it would have to have been in order to hit Russia when it did), its orbital velocity would necessarily have to be very low. As in, so slow it would take millenia to complete even one orbit. Since DA14 is moving at a whopping 30km/second relative to Earth, anything orbiting it that far out would be moving in virtually the same direction and speed with respect to us.

In short, there's no way that meteorite could have been orbiting DA14

Video and interactive WebGL animations

[huntes]

We put together a blog post with a video and interactive WebGL demos that will let you see the path of the asteroid in relation to the satellites in orbit: http://blogs.agi.com/agi/2013/02/04/2012-da14-asteroid-animation/

Re:Way Cooler

[Sperbels]

So, what you're saying is that aliens are shooting asteroids at us from both sides?!?

I hope we get more coverage like this.

[Westwood0720]

I hope the mainstream media gives more attention to this instead of some celebrity bullshit. People might start gaining an interest in this stuff and maybe give this subject matter the attention it deserves.

Sure...

[daveschroeder]

...except for its completely different orbital path, direction of entry into Earth's atmosphere, and timing of the encounter with Earth, all of which definitively prove that it is not related to 2012 DA14.

Re:Whoosh!

[treeves]

You said that just to get another whoosh, didn't you?

Re:I wonder if...

[amicusNYCL]

You were communicating with someone in Buenos Aires about an asteroid when the communication got cut off? I would like to know more.