Asteroid to Make a Close Approach Today (April 8, 2010)

[PPI Karl]

from JPL's Asteroid Watch site: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/asteroidwatch/newsfeatures.cfm?release=2549

Asteroid to Fly by Within Moon's Orbit Thursday
April 06, 2010

A newly discovered asteroid, 2010 GA6, will safely fly by Earth this Thursday at 4:06 p.m. Pacific (23:06 U.T.C.). At time of closest approach 2010 GA6 will be about 359,000 kilometers (223,000 miles) away from Earth - about 9/10ths the distance to the moon. The asteroid, approximately 22 meters (71 feet) wide, was discovered by the Catalina Sky Survey, Tucson, Az.

"Fly bys of near-Earth objects within the moon's orbit occur every few weeks," said Don Yeomans of NASA's Near-Earth Object Office at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

NASA detects and tracks asteroids and comets passing close to Earth using both ground and space-based telescopes. The Near-Earth Object Observations Program, commonly called "Spaceguard," discovers these objects, characterizes a subset of them and plots their orbits to determine if any could be potentially hazardous to our planet.

JPL manages the Near-Earth Object Program Office for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., operates the Arecibo Observatory under a cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation in Arlington, Va.

For more information about asteroids and near-Earth objects, visit: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/asteroidwatch

[Damian]

That's a relatively close fly-by.  Wow.  I wonder if the asteroid has mass enough to affect Earth or the moon as it passes.

[PPI Tim]

I wondered if it came close to any satellites.

[Damian]

Good point Tim. That could definitely cause some problems.

[PPI Karl]

I don't think there's any evidence to suggest it's actually flying near the moon.  I think what they mean is that its distance is merely within the orbit of the moon (even though the moon could actually be on the other side of the planet).  However, if it were, it would actually be perilously close to the moon:  9/10th the distance of the Earth to the Moon, in fact.  That probably rules out affects on satellites, but never say "Never."

[PPI Karl]

I don't think there's any evidence to suggest it's actually flying near the moon.  I think what they mean is that its distance is merely within the orbit of the moon (even though the moon could actually be on the other side of the planet).  However, if it were, it would actually be perilously close to the moon:  9/10th the distance of the Earth to the Moon, in fact.  That probably rules out affects on satellites, but never say "Never."

Apparently this is literally yesterday's news:  I'm having difficulty finding any followup stories, even on the official Asteroid Watch website.  Frankly, I'm a little disappointed.

[PPI Brian]

Me too. I really wanted to see if I could spot it in the night sky. But something so small and so far away would be undetectable with my equipment.

[Damian]

I thought of you astronomy-buffs this weekend while I was out in Joshua Tree.  The moon hadn't come over the horizon yet and the night sky was crystal clear and dark...beautiful star-gazing!

[PPI Tracy]

I thought of you astronomy-buffs this weekend while I was out in Joshua Tree.  The moon hadn't come over the horizon yet and the night sky was crystal clear and dark...beautiful star-gazing!

I passed right by you on my way to AZ.  The sky was beautiful indeed.