[meteorite-list] Bend it Like Beckham! Small Asteroid to Whip Past Earth on June 27, 2011

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu, 23 Jun 2011 18:30:06 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <201106240130.p5O1U6H0017949_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news172.html

Bend it Like Beckham! Small Asteroid to Whip Past Earth on June 27, 2011
Don Yeomans & Paul Chodas
NASA/JPL Near-Earth Object Program Office
June 23, 2011

[Graphic]
Trajectory of 2011 MD projected onto the Earth's orbital plane. Note
from this viewing angle, the asteroid passes underneath the Earth.

[Graphic]
Trajectory of 2011 MD from the general direction of the Sun.

Near-Earth asteroid 2011 MD will pass only 12,000 kilometers (7,500
miles) above the Earth's surface on Monday June 27 at about 9:30 EDT.
The asteroid was discovered by the LINEAR near-Earth object discovery
team observing from Socorro, New Mexico. The diagram on the left shows
the trajectory of 2011 MD projected onto the Earth's orbital plane over
a four-day interval. The diagram on the left gives another view from the
general direction of the Sun that indicates that 2011 MD will reach its
closest Earth approach point in extreme southern latitudes (in fact over
the southern Atlantic Ocean). This small asteroid, only 5-20 meters in
diameter, is in a very Earth-like orbit about the Sun, but an orbital
analysis indicates there is no chance it will actually strike Earth on
Monday. The incoming trajectory leg passes several thousand kilometers
outside the geosynchronous ring of satellites and the outgoing leg
passes well inside the ring. One would expect an object of this size to
come this close to Earth about every 6 years on average. For a brief
time, it will be bright enough to be seen even with a modest-sized
telescope.
Received on Thu 23 Jun 2011 09:30:06 PM PDT