[meteorite-list] Watch The Skies For August Asteroid (2002 NY40)

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:00:09 2004
Message-ID: <200207241803.LAA27938_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.msnbc.com/news/784563.asp

Watch the skies for August asteroid

Space rock should be visible through binoculars, experts say

By Robert Roy Britt
space.com
July 23, 2002

In a rare event slated for mid-August, an asteroid will pass close enough to
Earth to be visible through binoculars and small telescopes.

THE GIANT BOULDER, named 2002 NY40, was discovered about a month ago.

On Aug. 18, the asteroid will be 327,200 miles (526,600 kilometers) from
Earth, according to the Minor Planet Center in Cambridge, Mass. That will
put it well beyond the moon's orbit. The asteroid's exact size is not known,
but it is "somewhat smaller than 1 kilometer (0.62 miles) in diameter," said
Gareth Williams, associate director of the center.

Rough estimates by astronomers have put the asteroid at 547 yards (500
meters) wide. A pair of Louisiana Superdomes would fit inside an object this
size, with ample room left over for parking.

NOT VISIBLE TO NAKED EYE

Asteroid 2002 NY40 should brighten to about magnitude 9.3 on Aug. 18,
Williams told Space.com. The faintest objects visible to the unaided eye are
around magnitude 6.0, on a scale where larger numbers indicated dimmer
objects. The brightest stars in the sky are typically categorized as zero or
first magnitude.

An asteroid becomes as bright as 2002 NY40 from our terrestrial vantage
point only about once or twice a decade. However, a similar event occurred
last December. The next time a known asteroid will appear this bright is in
2004.

Two days prior to its closest approach, the asteroid will achieve a
brightness of magnitude 12. By Aug. 19, a day after closest approach, its
brightness will drop off dramatically, to magnitude 21.

Asteroid 2002 NY40 presents no danger of hitting Earth on this pass around
the sun. However, astronomers have calculated eight close passes on future
orbits, one of which in the year 2022 presents an extremely low (but not
zero) probability of an impact. Experts say an object this large could cause
regional destruction, change the world climate temporarily, and kill
millions of people if it hit a populated area.

Similar calculations for other asteroids have been made in the past, and
typically the odds go to zero when more observations are made and the
numbers are refined. The chances of any asteroid as big or larger than 2002
NY40 hitting Earth sometime in the next century are put at about 1 in 400.

Asteroid 2002 NY40 was first spotted July 14 with the 1-meter (3-foot)
LINEAR telescope in Socorro, N.M. Its discovery contrasts with that of
another asteroid, 2002 MN, which had an even closer brush with Earth in June
but was not detected until three days later, by the same facility.

Every few months, typically, an asteroid passing within the moon's orbit is
noticed before or shortly after it makes its closest approach to Earth.
Received on Wed 24 Jul 2002 02:03:47 PM PDT