[meteorite-list] Astronomers Plan Last Look at Asteroid 1999 RQ36Before OSIRIS-REx Launch
From: Becky and Kirk <bandk_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Wed, 14 Sep 2011 11:12:34 -0500 Message-ID: <93F2154808FE40459CF763E4783C7311_at_owner55652f88b> Thanks for the info Ron! Kirk.... ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ron Baalke" <baalke at zagami.jpl.nasa.gov> To: "Meteorite Mailing List" <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com> Sent: Wednesday, September 14, 2011 11:05 AM Subject: [meteorite-list] Astronomers Plan Last Look at Asteroid 1999 RQ36Before OSIRIS-REx Launch > > FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE > > FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA > > Sept. 13, 2011 > > This story and photos are online at: http://uanews.org/node/41796 . > > Contact information follows this story. > > Astronomers Plan Last Look at Asteroid Before OSIRIS-REx Launch > > Every six years, asteroid 1999 RQ36 nears the Earth - by cosmic > standards - > and researchers are launching a global observation campaign to learn as > much > as possible in preparation for the OSIRIS-REx, the first U.S.-led mission > to bring back a sample of pristine asteroid material. > > Astronomers working on the U.S.' first asteroid-sample return mission - > the > NASA mission named OSIRIS-REx - have begun a months-long observing > campaign > that is the last chance to study their target asteroid from Earth before > the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft launches in 2016. > > OSIRIS-REx is a quest to bring back to Earth a good-sized sample of an > asteroid unaltered since solar system formation - a sample that very well > could contain molecules that seeded life. > > Discovered in 1999, the OSIRIS-REx target asteroid, designated 1999 RQ36, > nears Earth once every six years. During the 2011 closest approach in > early > September, it will be 10.9 million miles (17.5 million kilometers) away. > In > 1999, closest approach was 1.4 million miles (2.3 million kilometers). > > "Six years sets the whole cadence for our mission," said Dante Lauretta of > the University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, deputy principal > investigator for the OSIRIS-REx mission. > > "The next chance for ground-based telescopes to see this asteroid will be > in > 2017, when it again nears Earth. Our spacecraft performs a gravity-assist > at this time, giving it the kick it needs to rendezvous with the asteroid > in 2019-20. The next chance for ground-based astronomy is 2023, the year > the > spacecraft returns a sample of the asteroid to Earth." > > 1999 RQ36 last attracted astronomers' attention in 2005, when it passed > 3.1 > million miles (5 million kilometers) from Earth and appeared 30 times > brighter > than it does this year. > > In 2005, Carl Hergenrother of the UA Lunar and Planetary Laboratory was > searching with the 61-inch Kuiper telescope on Mt. Bigelow north of Tucson > for > exciting targets for the proposed asteroid sample-return mission. He > observed > 1999 RQ36. > > "Looking at my data, I saw this was a B-type asteroid, which is > carbonaceous > and related to unusual outer main-belt asteroids that act like comets by > outgassing volatiles," Hergenrother, who heads the OSIRIS-REx asteroid > astronomy working group, said. > > After a quick search of the scientific literature, which turned up nothing > on the object, he did a Google search. Jackpot. > > "Astronomers had been observing this asteroid, just not formally > publishing > about it," Hergenrother said. "Their results were sitting on their > personal > Web pages. They had radar images of it, visible and near-infrared > observations, > confirmed it was a B-type (bluish) asteroid, got a pretty good light curve > and > a rotation period, although the rotation period was wrong." > > Michael Drake of the UA Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, principal > investigator > for OSIRIS-REx, urged Josh Emery, one of Drake's former students, now of > the University of Tennessee and a co-investigator on OSIRIS-REx, to > observe > 1999 RQ36 with the Spitzer Space Telescope. Emery won the telescope time, > providing first observations of the asteroid at thermal infrared > wavelengths. > > "Coming out of 2006-07, 1999 RQ36 was probably the best-studied near-Earth > asteroid out there that hadn't already been visited by a spacecraft," > Hergenrother said. "We lucked out in that not only is this an asteroid > that's > relatively easy to get to, it is extremely interesting, exactly the kind > of > object that we want for this mission." > > The international team of astronomers collaborating in the fall > 2011-spring > 2012 observing campaign for 1999 RQ36 have time or are applying for time > on > a network of telescopes operating in Arizona, the Canary Islands, Chile, > Puerto > Rico and space. > > The new observations will not only influence mission planning and > development, > but will directly address two key OSIRIS-REx mission goals, Lauretta said. > > One goal is to check results from ground-based observations against > results > from OSIRIS-REx spacecraft observations that will be made in 2019-20 as > the > spacecraft circles the asteroid for about 500 days. > > Another goal is to measure a slight force called the "Yarkovsky effect" to > better understand the likelihood that potentially hazardous near-Earth > asteroids, such as 1999 RQ36, will strike our planet, and when. > > # # # > > LINK: > > The University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory: > http://www.lpl.arizona.edu > > CONTACTS: > > Dante S. Lauretta > UA Lunar and Planetary Laboratory > 520-626-1138 > lauretta at lpl.arizona.edu > > Carl W. Hergenrother > UA Lunar and Planetary Laboratory > 520-237-6432 > chergen at lpl.arizona.edu > > Daniel Stolte > University Communications > The University of Arizona > 520-626-4402 > stolte at email.arizona.edu > ______________________________________________ > 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 Wed 14 Sep 2011 12:12:34 PM PDT |
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