[meteorite-list] 2010 AL30: Bright newly-discovered close approaching object

From: Sterling K. Webb <sterling_k_webb_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 2010 15:40:53 -0600
Message-ID: <509592CB23A747A4BB913D1A18E24A73_at_ATARIENGINE2>

List,

More information on 2010 AL30 can be
found here:

Updated through 3:30 pm today:
http://news.discovery.com/space/the-2010-al30-an-asteroid-or-man-made-object.html

Similar, but includes a flyby movie -- zoom!
Also has sky photos of the object.
http://www.scibuff.com/2010/01/12/2010-al30-more-info-including-a-fly-by-animation/

It will be approaching from the night side of
the Earth, so the approach is observable. After
it passes to the Sunside, it will be "lost" very
quickly. The close pass will be at about 80,000
miles.

Interestingly, it has had past close encounters
with Venus (assuming no great orbit changes).
This has given rise to speculation that it might
be hardware from a Venus mission, but the orbit
is still unlikely.

Maybe the Venusians are checking out Planet
Three...


Sterling K. Webb
----------------------------------------------------------------------
----- Original Message -----
From: "Richard Kowalski" <kowalski at lpl.arizona.edu>
To: <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Tuesday, January 12, 2010 2:59 PM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] 2010 AL30: Bright newly-discovered close
approaching object


> Alexander Seidel wrote:
>
>> Can this definitely be ruled out, and if so, why? May be, our
>> other good expert on orbital analysis things, Rob Matson, would also
>> like to add a few remarks on this. Do you have light curves
>> or reflectance spectra from the object to rule it out?
>
>
> Alex,
>
> Alan Harris wrote this on MPML earlier today:
>
> "Unlikely to be artificial, it's orbit doesn't resemble any useful
> spacecraft trajectory, and its encounter velocity with the Earth is
> not
> unusually low, around 9.5 km/sec "v_infinity". Perfectly ordinary
> Earth-crossing orbit."
>
> I'm sure he wouldn't mind my quoting him here.
>
> Many observations have been coming in by both amateur astrometrists
> and no doubt photometrists, and there have been no reports I am aware
> of that the object appears to be anything other than natural.
>
> You may remember at various times we have recovered objects that are
> man-made, including candidates that were most likely the 3rd stage of
> Apollo 12, "Snoopy", the ascent stage of the Apollo 10 Lunar Module,
> and my own slightly embarrassing "discovery" of Rosetta before it
> passed the earth for a gravitational assist a few years ago. All were
> identified rapidly as most likely man-made, and probable mission
> origins suggested in very short order there after.
>
> As Alan states, this one is in a very typical earth-crossing orbit.
> The only thing that makes it marginally interesting is that it is a
> very close approacher.
>
> Lance Benner reports that his team is trying to get time on the
> Goldstone dish so they can make radar observations early on the 13th.
> That'll settle once and for all if it is natural or man-made and we'll
> also get an idea of the object's shape and it's exact size.
>
>
> Jason,
>
> Jay Melosh et al are pretty well know in the field of impacts. I'm
> pretty confident in the results that their online impact tool outputs.
>
> --
> Richard Kowalski
> Catalina Sky Survey
> Lunar and Planetary Laboratory
> University of Arizona
> Tucson, AZ 85721
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Received on Tue 12 Jan 2010 04:40:53 PM PST