Asteroid 2014 RC duncan124: "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 appproach 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. According to NASA, "[the orbit of 2014 RC] will bring it back to our planet's neighborhood in the future. The asteroid's future motion will be closely monitored, but no future threatening Earth encounters have been identified." Spaceweather.com The asteroid will pass 0.1 Luna Distance from Earth. duncan124: Space.com has a page which seems to show the asteroid close to Earth for some longish part of the year and that the asteroid is expected to orbit the sun returning for another close pass it seems? http://www.space.com/images/i/000/041/858/original/orbit-asteroid-2014-rc.jpg?1409846636 (Post deleted by duncan124 ) lori100: TAMPA, Fla. (CBS Tampa) — NASA announced that a small asteroid will safely pass “very close” to Earth on Sept. 7. The asteroid, designated 2014 RC, will be roughly over New Zealand at the time of closest approach, which will be about 2:18 pm EDT based on current calculations. Astronomers estimate that the asteroid is about 60 feet in size. On the night of Aug. 31, the asteroid was first discovered by the Catalina Sky Survey near Tucson, Ariz., and was detected independently the next night by the Pan-STARRS 1 telescope that is located in Hawaii. The orbit of 2014 RC was confirmed by both the Catalina Sky Survey and the University of Hawaii during follow-up observations. It will be about 25,000 miles away at the time of its closest approach to Earth. It won’t be observable to the unaided eye, but amateur astronomers with small telescopes might be able to spot the fast-moving appearance of the asteroid. duncan124: Siding Spring observatory has taken a good photo of RC2014 as is wizzed by. http://spaceweathergallery.com/indiv_upload.php?upload_id=101507 Apart from that no news. Except of course that it still may return! duncan124: "They crawled out of the woodwork And they whispered into your brain They set you on the treadmill" It has been set on a tread mill alright!! duncan124: "During the 2014 Earth close approach the orbital period of 2014 RC was reduced from 600 days to 549 days " -:from RC2014s Wiki. "With an absolute magnitude of 26.8,[3] the asteroid is about 11–25 meters (36–82 ft) in diameter depending on the albedo.[5] Observations by the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility conclude the asteroid is a fairly bright Sq-class asteroid which have an average albedo of around 0.24, and would give the asteroid a spherical equivalent diameter of 12 meters (39 ft).[4] Measurements by multiple telescopes indicate that the asteroid rotates in 15.8 seconds making it the fastest rotating asteroid so far discovered.[4] Using the 15.8 second rotation period, more accurate radar observations by Goldstone shows the asteroid has a largest axis of at least 22 meters (72 ft).[4] Due to the asteroids fast rotation, it is a monolith and not a rubble pile." en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_RC | Science Chat Room 1 Person Chatting Similar Conversations |