[meteorite-list] Liverpool Telescope Captures Images of Asteorid 2004 FM

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:32:53 2004
Message-ID: <200403241646.IAA27553_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://cwis.livjm.ac.uk/jmunews/final/story.asp?ref=200403240943360266521600000000

Near-Earth Asteroid
JMU World (England)
March 24, 2004

Liverpool Telescope Images

The Liverpool Telescope - one of the world's largest robotic telescopes -
captured outstanding images of the asteroid that made the closest-ever
recorded approach to Earth without actually entering our atmosphere.

Asteroid 2004FH, approximately 30 metres/100 feet wide, passed within
43,000km of the Earth last week on 18th March 2004. The Liverpool Telescope,
a world-class research telescope sited in La Palma, Canary Islands, was in a
very good position to observe the asteroid as its closest approach was over
the South Atlantic, giving scientists unprecedented opportunities to study a
near-Earth-asteroid close up.

The Liverpool Telescope, designed and built by Telescope Technologies Ltd, a
wholly owned subsidiary of JMU, is robotically controlled by the University's
internationally respected Astrophysics Research Institute. JMU's astronomers
believe that the Liverpool Telescope made the best observations of the
asteroid and the data will now be used to refine the asteroid's orbit.

The flexible schedule of the Liverpool Telescope meant that after being
alerted by Alan Fitzsimmons from Queens University Belfast, Liverpool
Telescope staffs on site in La Palma (Robert Smith, Jon Marchant, Alan Scott
and Stuart Bates) were able to track the asteroid at short notice, obtaining
the attached image. In this 5 second exposure the fast moving asteroid can be
seen as the long trail entering the frame from the left.
Received on Wed 24 Mar 2004 11:46:17 AM PST