[meteorite-list] Small Asteroid 2010 AL30 Will Fly Past TheEarth

From: Sterling K. Webb <sterling_k_webb_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 2010 21:36:50 -0600
Message-ID: <72786CDAA7C14BD39F268B694C477379_at_ATARIENGINE2>

Hi, Melanie and List,

What defines a "meteoroid" is that some portion of
it survives entry into the Earth's atmosphere and
ends up on the surface of the Earth as a "meteorite."

So, we don't know it's a "meteoroid" until after the
whole adventure is over and done with. We can't say
a rock is a "meteoroid" while it's still in space because
we don't know the outcome yet.

On the other hand, any rock that could intersect the
Earth (or be deflected to do so) is a potential "meteoroid."
Size is not the criteria. A small asteroid (like the iron
that made Meteor Crater) is a "meteoroid" because of
all those Canyon Diablos. Whatever hit Tunguska is
NOT a "meteoroid" because nobody ever found a piece
of it.

2010 AL30 could be a "meteoroid" if it would hit and
leave a piece to be recovered. Just be very patient and
live a long time... (Always a good idea anyway.)


Sterling K. Webb
------------------------------------------------------------------------
----- Original Message -----
From: "Melanie Matthews" <miss_meteorite at yahoo.ca>
To: "Ron Baalke" <baalke at zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>; "Meteorite Mailing List"
<meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Tuesday, January 12, 2010 8:26 PM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Small Asteroid 2010 AL30 Will Fly Past
TheEarth


> Hello everyone - hope you all had a happy new year!
>
> Interesting.
>
> I have been wondering - what is the size of natural space objects that
> the draws the line between an asteroid and a meteoroid? Could this be
> considered a meteoroid?
>
> Regards
> -----------
> Melanie
> IMCA: 2975
> eBay: metmel2775
> Known on SkyRock Cafe as SpaceCollector09
>
> Unclassified meteorites are like a box of chocolates... you never know
> what you're gonna get!
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----
> From: Ron Baalke <baalke at zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>
> To: Meteorite Mailing List <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
> Sent: Tue, January 12, 2010 4:10:27 PM
> Subject: [meteorite-list] Small Asteroid 2010 AL30 Will Fly Past The
> Earth
>
>
> http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news167.html
>
> Small Asteroid 2010 AL30 Will Fly Past The Earth
> Don Yeomans, Paul Chodas, Steve Chesley & Jon Giorgini
> NASA/JPL Near-Earth Object Program Office
> January 12, 2010
>
> [Graphic)
> Trajectory of Asteroid 2010 AL30 Past Earth on January 12/13, 2010
>
> Asteroid 2010 AL30, discovered by the LINEAR survey of MIT's Lincoln
> Laboratories on Jan. 10, will make a close approach to the Earth's
> surface to within 76,000 miles on Wednesday January 13 at 12:46 pm
> Greenwich time (7:46 EST, 4:46 PST). Because its orbital period is
> nearly identical to the Earth's one year period, some have suggested
> it
> may be a manmade rocket stage in orbit about the Sun. However, this
> object's orbit, reaches the orbit of Venus at its closest point to the
> Sun and nearly out to the orbit of Mars at its furthest point,
> crossing
> the Earth's orbit at a very steep angle, and this actually makes it
> very
> unlikely that 2010 AL30 is a rocket stage. Furthermore, our trajectory
> extrapolations show that this object cannot be associated with any
> recent launch and it has not made any close approaches to the Earth
> since well before the Space Age began.
>
> It seems more likely that this is a near-Earth asteroid about 10-15
> meters across, one of approximately 2 million such objects in
> near-Earth
> space. One would expect a near-Earth asteroid of this size to pass
> within the moon's distance about once every week on average.
>
> To take advantage of this close approach, there are plans to observe
> it
> with the Goldstone planetary radar on Wednesday evening, Jan. 12
> beginning at 6:20 PST. The radar data could dramatically improve the
> object's orbit and provide additional information on its size and
> shape.
>
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Received on Tue 12 Jan 2010 10:36:50 PM PST