SUNDAY, SEPT 7, HOUSE-SIZED ASTEROID 2014 RC FLY-BY: This Sunday, a recently discovered house-sized asteroid named 2014 RC will fly through the Earth-Moon system almost inside the orbit of geosynchronous satellites. At closest approach on Sept. 7 at 18:18 UTC, the 20-meter-wide space rock will pass just 25,000 km over New Zealand. There is no danger of a collision with Earth. Asteroid 2014 RC was discovered on the night of August 31 by the Catalina Sky Survey near Tucson, Arizona, and independently detected the next night by the Pan-STARRS 1 telescope, located on the summit of Haleakalā on Maui, Hawaii. Follow-up observations quickly confirmed the orbit of 2014 RC: it comes from just beyond the orbit of Mars. The close approach of this space rock offers researchers an opportunity for point-blank studies of a near-Earth asteroid. Even amateur astronomers will be able to track it. Around the time of closest approach, it will brighten to magnitude +11.5 as it zips through the constellation Pisces. This means it will be invisible to the naked eye but a relatively easy target for backyard telescopes equipped with CCD cameras. [ephemeris] [3D orbit] According to NASA, [the orbit of 2014 RC] will bring it back to our planets neighborhood in the future. The asteroids future motion will be closely monitored, but no future threatening Earth encounters have been identified. This story from spaceweather and diagram from NASA shows the geometry of the encounter: nasa.gov/sites/default/files/2014rc_ca2-main_0.png
Posted on: Thu, 04 Sep 2014 18:32:10 +0000
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