[meteorite-list] Asteroid 2000 MN Gives Earth Its Closest Shave In Years

From: Mike Groetz <mpg444_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:01:34 2004
Message-ID: <20020621024807.45714.qmail_at_web14703.mail.yahoo.com>

Hello Everyone
   Here in Ohio there is something you learn very
quickly-
   When you just miss the deer that ran in front of
your car, you watch it go into the field beside of you
and then take that big sigh of relief-
   it's the one following it that will get you.

   Sure hope its not the same with asteroids! :-)

Have a good night,
Mike

   
--- Ron Baalke <baalke_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov> wrote:
>
>
> From Kevin Yates <keviny_at_spacecentre.co.uk>
>
> Near Earth Object Information Centre
> National Space Centre, Exploration Drive, Leicester
> Press Release, Thursday 20th June 2002: Asteroid
> 2002MN
>
> For immediate release
>
> Asteroid 2002MN gives Earth its closest shave in
> years
>
> On Friday 14 June, an asteroid the size of a
> football pitch made one of the
> closest ever recorded approaches to Earth.
> Astronomers working on the LINEAR
> search programme, near Socorro, New Mexico first
> detected the giant rock on
> 17 June, a few days after its close approach.
>
> The Near Earth Object, known to astronomers as
> '2002MN', was travelling at
> over 10 km/s (23,000 miles per hour) when it passed
> Earth at a distance of
> around 120,000 km (75,000 miles), bringing it well
> inside the Moon's orbit.
> The last time a known asteroid passed this close was
> back in December 1994.
>
> Asteroids are typically too small and distant to
> measure their size directly
> from Earth, so scientists use the amount of light
> they reflect, along with a
> basic understanding of the materials they are made
> of, to estimate their
> size. With a diameter between 50-120 metres, 2002 MN
> is a lightweight among
> asteroids and incapable of causing damage on a
> global scale, such as the
> object associated with the extinction of the
> dinosaurs.
>
> However, if it had hit the Earth, 2002MN may have
> caused local devastation
> similar to that which occurred in Tunguska, Siberia
> in 1908, when 2000
> square kilometres of forest were flattened. Whilst
> the vast majority of NEOs
> discovered do not come this close, such near misses
> do highlight the
> importance of detecting these objects. This reminder
> comes in a week when
> the UK telescopes on La Palma are being tested to
> search for NEOs.
>
> Brief Description of Object
> Object Designation: 2002MN
> Date of First Observation: 17/06/02
> Number of Observations: 14
> Search Team: LINEAR (Lincoln Near Earth Asteroid
> Research)
> Date of Closest Approach: 14/06/02
> Closest Approach Distance: 0.000797 AU or 119,229
> km (0.3 Lunar Distances)
> Asteroids Velocity Relative to Earth at Closest
> Approach: 10.58 km/s (23,667
> miles per hour)
> Estimated Diameter of Asteroid: 50-120 metres
> Orbital Period: 894.9 days
>
> For further information contact: Kevin Yates
> (Project Officer) Near Earth
> Object Information Centre. +44(0)116 2582130 or
> 07740 896141;
> email: keviny_at_spacecentre.co.uk
>
>
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>
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Received on Thu 20 Jun 2002 10:48:07 PM PDT