Asteroid passing Earth will be closer than moon

[Judi Lynn]

March 4, 2014 at 3:53 pm
Asteroid passing Earth will be closer than moon
Associated Press

Cape Canaveral, Fla. — An asteroid is headed this way. But even though it will come closer than the moon, astronomers say it will pose no danger.

The newly discovered asteroid, called 2014 DX110, will hurtle between the moon and Earth on Wednesday. DX110 will pass an estimated 217,000 miles from Earth.

That’s approximately nine-tenths of the distance between the moon and Earth.

The asteroid is an estimated 45 to 130 feet across.

Relatively close approaches like this occur all the time, although DX110 is extra close.

From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20140304/NATION/303040100#ixzz2v1zChI8O

[Warren DeMontague]

1. Star Person Incarnate Fran will have her revenge on Seattle!

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. Is there any chance that we can see it passing?

I would love that!

Maybe the Space Station will see it, and photograph it.

[longship]

4. Too small. At that distance not even the Hubble has the resolution.

I think. But it may be visible if it reflects a lot of light.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

5. Oh darn. Too bad. n/t

[longship]

6. Dawes' Limit.

Divide 11.6 by the diameter of the scope in centimeters. (For the Hubble, 240 cm.)

The result is given in arcseconds. (1/3600 of a degree).

For the Hubble, that is about .05 arcseconds. Anything smaller than that would not be resolvable by Hubble.

At 217,000 miles distance, that would be an object of about 266 feet, much larger than this asteroid.

However, if the object is bright -- reflecting sun light -- it can still be seen, just not resolved.

Hope that helps.

[longship]

3. About 48.5 tons of meteors fall on Earth EACH DAY!

So it's not a surprise when these things happen so often.

[TrogL]

7. I wonder if there's any broken off bits and pieces following it

Could we have another spectacle like the Russia event?