Ready for their close-up
SATELLITE SCRAPER?
"Newly-discovered asteroid 2012 KT42 [click for pic] is flying past Earth today … only ~14,000 km above the planet's surface," reports SpaceWeather.com. That's roughly 8,700 miles, or not quite 0.00014 astronomical units (AU), or about 5 percent of the distance from Earth's surface to Luna's (~0.05 LD).
"This means 2012 KT42 will actually fly inside the Clark Belt of geosynchronous satellites. The 3- to 10-meter wide asteroid" -- discovered only yesterday -- "ranks #6 on the top 20 list of closest-approachers to Earth." But not to worry: Orbital calculations show "there is no danger of a collision. Even if it did hit, this space rock is too small to cause significant damage."
Next on 2012 KT42's schedule, according to the JPL small-body database, is a swing past Venus in early July.
LESS-CLOSE SHAVER
Another near-Earth object -- estimated to be thrice as large and twice as far away -- came zipping past us just yesterday. At its closest approach, 24-meter asteroid 2012 KP24 (click for pic) was separated from our planet by about 10 percent of the Earth-Moon distance (0.10 LD).
2012 KP24 is expected to swing by Earth again -- this time, about half as far out as the Moon -- in early October.
COMING ATTRACTIONS
The NEO calendar at SpaceWeather.com currently stretches to October 21. Between now and then, no other asteroids are expected to come within several LDs of here, So far.
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comments. Comment where ye will.
"Newly-discovered asteroid 2012 KT42 [click for pic] is flying past Earth today … only ~14,000 km above the planet's surface," reports SpaceWeather.com. That's roughly 8,700 miles, or not quite 0.00014 astronomical units (AU), or about 5 percent of the distance from Earth's surface to Luna's (~0.05 LD).
![2012 KT42 [click for pic]](http://spaceweather.com/submissions/large_image_popup.php?image_name=Ernesto-Guido-Giovanni-Sostero-a-Nick-Howes-stack_1338229691.jpg){kind=link}
"This means 2012 KT42 will actually fly inside the Clark Belt of geosynchronous satellites. The 3- to 10-meter wide asteroid" -- discovered only yesterday -- "ranks #6 on the top 20 list of closest-approachers to Earth." But not to worry: Orbital calculations show "there is no danger of a collision. Even if it did hit, this space rock is too small to cause significant damage."
Next on 2012 KT42's schedule, according to the JPL small-body database, is a swing past Venus in early July.
LESS-CLOSE SHAVER
Another near-Earth object -- estimated to be thrice as large and twice as far away -- came zipping past us just yesterday. At its closest approach, 24-meter asteroid 2012 KP24 (click for pic) was separated from our planet by about 10 percent of the Earth-Moon distance (0.10 LD).
2012 KP24 is expected to swing by Earth again -- this time, about half as far out as the Moon -- in early October.
COMING ATTRACTIONS
The NEO calendar at SpaceWeather.com currently stretches to October 21. Between now and then, no other asteroids are expected to come within several LDs of here, So far.
This entry is cross-posted from www.dreamwidth.org, where there are
comments. Comment where ye will.