Asteroid to Pass by Earth June 14...

[neotesla]

http://phys.org/news/2012-06-big-bright-asteroid-earth-june.html

Just saw this posted on the above forum.  What are the odds of seeing this with a 8" SCT?

[drclay]

You can easily see this asteroid if you wait until predawn hours; it is overhead about 3 a.m., in southern skies (Sagittarius) as is going to be 13th magnitude....moving VERY fast, so its motion will be quite perceptible.  NOTE that on fast moving NEW asteroids, the path of them as well as the exact location each minute is somewhat uncertain, so the object may be ahead or behind the predicted position for any given minute.

I have it on my list of asteroids for tonight, but it is moving so fast that it will require 0.1 second exposures to freeze the image to obtain measureable data.

Doc.

[neotesla]

heh...  just looked out at the sky here.  Clouded out again!  Well.. I'll keep an eye out on the sky for later, but if the weather follows its recent pattern fog is going to roll in.  All you can do is try... 

[drclay]

You will have another excellent opportunity tonight with this object being 14th magnitude and slowing down just a bit; it is moving nearly due north, so it is more favorable in terms of positon for northern hemisphere observers.

We were able to get about 20 solid observations for measurement last night, putting this NEO at mag. 14 to 14.4, tumbling and actually very close to predicted position which is quite rare for such a fast-mover and close approach asteroid.

Good luck!

Doc

[neotesla]

Thank you for the update.  Being the weekend as well I can stay up later and try seeing this asteroid.

[Parsec]

I was going to attempt to observer 2012 LZ1 or try for several photos over time...but as usual it was overcast here.

However, evidently the asteroid did not follow the rules.

It appears that the apparent brightness puts the asteroid at least X2  larger than was expected (not sure if mass is X2) according to the Arecibo Radio telescope.

I find NEO's become more and more and fascinating.

[drclay]

The asteroid may have been as large as 20 kilometers; we attempted studies of rotation and size but there is still major discrepancy in both.
More to come later I think.  Right now, it has an amplitude of about 0.4 mag. and a period of perhaps 17-18 hours.

The more you pay attention to NEOs and the potentially hazardous varieties (PHAS) of these asteroids, the more you will be drawn to them.
Hopefully you may attempt to start capturing postional measurements and magnitude estimates as part of a private research project for your equipment!

Doc

[Ron]

Is this one going to be worth a try with an 8" Alt/Az scope?

2012 MY2

Thanks,

Ron

[drclay]

Unfortunately 2012 MY2 will pass very close in the next four days and then suddenly drop to magnitude 21 by next week; it will attain magnitude 17.4 or so in the coming days but will be moving so fast that I doubt that you will be able to effectively locate it and then keep up with it visually (or even via CCD); this one is not on my list because of its large apparent motion.

Note that this is a big one, just like 2012 LZ1, with 2012 MY2 being up to 30 meters across.

Doc

[Ron]

Thanks Doc,

I did a search for this one and found several discussions but not any information I could understand.

Your information is great, as usual,  and very much appreciated.

Ron