[meteorite-list] Somewhat off-topic: close asteroid flyby coming up

From: Matson, Robert <ROBERT.D.MATSON_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 09:55:39 2004
Message-ID: <AF564D2B9D91D411B9FE00508BF1C8698E5879_at_US-Torrance.mail.saic.com>

Hi Ron & List,

In case anyone with a good-sized telescope wants to try to
see it, a very newly discovered asteroid, 2001 YB5, will pass
within only 2 lunar distances of earth on January 7th.
Unfortunately for us in the northern hemisphere, closest
approach can only be seen from "down under". However, it
can still be observed from northern hemisphere locations
on the night of the 5th/6th.

At 22:15 PST January 5th (23:15 MST), the asteroid will be
3 degrees due south of eta-Hydrae at R.A. 8h 44m, Dec 0.0 deg,
magnitude +13. At 4:00am PST the next morning (Jan. 6th) it
has brightened a half magnitude to 12.5, and has moved to
R.A. 8h 55.5m, Dec -4.9 deg.

A question for Ron: can you tell me what the deal is with
asteroid 2001 SJ207? This thing is listed as having an
absolute (H) magnitude of 1.43! This has got to be a typo,
but that's how it's listed in the minor planet catalog
database.

For those with more modest instruments (like myself), 4 Vesta
is still an easy binocular object in Taurus, 11 degrees from
Saturn at magnitude +7.2. Nearest bright star is lambda-Tauri
(mag 3.41), about 3 degrees to the southeast of Vesta.

A bit tougher is 9 Metis, but on January 9th it passes
extremely close to the bright star Pollux (within 0.25 degrees),
which should make locating the +8.6 mag asteroid much easier.

Cheers,
Rob
Received on Tue 01 Jan 2002 08:23:38 PM PST