[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 22:50:28 -0600
Message-ID: <91ACE0B958A14BD7BEC343A176BAF365_at_ATARIENGINE2>

Hi, Larry, List,

As usual. my definitions seems to be old and
out-of-date (appropriate). Larry is absolutely
right. The current official definition of a meteoroid
from the International Astronomical Union is
"a solid object moving in interplanetary space,
of a size considerably smaller than an asteroid
and considerably larger than an atom." The
Royal Astronomical Society has proposed a new
definition where a meteoroid is between 100 ?m
and 10 m across. The NEO definition includes
larger objects, up to 50 m in diameter, in this
category.


Sterling K. Webb
------------------------------------------------------------------
----- Original Message -----
From: <lebofsky at lpl.arizona.edu>
To: "Sterling K. Webb" <sterling_k_webb at sbcglobal.net>
Cc: "Ron Baalke" <baalke at zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>; "Meteorite Mailing List"
<meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Tuesday, January 12, 2010 9:57 PM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Small Asteroid 2010 AL30 Will Fly Past
TheEarth


> Hi Sterling:
>
> A meteoroid is an natural object in orbit around the Sun that is
> smaller
> than an asteroid. There has already been a discussion of what
> constitutes
> a small asteroid and what consitutes a large meteoroid. Technically,
> cometary dust particles are all meteoroids.
>
> Also, technically, 2010 AL30 is NOT a meteoroid. It has been detected
> and
> given an asteroid designation and is thus an asteroid, not a
> meteoroid.
> Given the number of observations that have been made and the fact that
> there may soon be some radar observations, we will never lose this
> object
> and technically, it could even be numbered and named.
>
> There is nothing in te definition of a meteoroid that "requires" it to
> be
> able to survive Earth entry.
>
> Larry
>
>> 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.
>>>
>>> ______________________________________________
>>> Visit the Archives at
>>> http://www.meteoritecentral.com/mailing-list-archives.html
>>> Meteorite-list mailing list
>>> Meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
>>> http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> __________________________________________________________________
>>> Get the name you've always wanted _at_ymail.com or @rocketmail.com! Go
>>> to
>>> http://ca.promos.yahoo.com/jacko/
>>>
>>> ______________________________________________
>>> Visit the Archives at
>>> http://www.meteoritecentral.com/mailing-list-archives.html
>>> Meteorite-list mailing list
>>> Meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
>>> http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
>>
>> ______________________________________________
>> Visit the Archives at
>> http://www.meteoritecentral.com/mailing-list-archives.html
>> Meteorite-list mailing list
>> Meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
>> http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
>>
>
>
> ______________________________________________
> Visit the Archives at
> http://www.meteoritecentral.com/mailing-list-archives.html
> Meteorite-list mailing list
> Meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
> http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
Received on Tue 12 Jan 2010 11:50:28 PM PST