Asteroid 2007 TU24–Here and Gone
Well, Tuesday the 29th of January became a lucky day for Earth and its inhabitants, as interested observers watched the huge asteroid 2007 TU24 as it closely whizzed by our planet at 0530 GMT–leaving us untouched and undamaged.
The closeness of the huge asteroid was confirmed by D.C. Agle, a spokesman for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California at a distance of 334,000 miles from Earth, or 1.4 times the Moon’s distance from Earth. Of course, NASA says “if” this asteroid would have hit our planet, it would have inflicted devastating regional damage. Duh!!
The asteroid 2007 TU24 is the closest approach to Earth for over 2,000 years and the closest until the end of the next century, according to JPL senior astronomer Steve Ostro. Amateurs could see the asteroid for a brief time with telescopes of three inches or larger, according to NASA.
The Catalina Sky Survey discovered the asteroid 2007 TU24 on October 11, 2007, when it was approaching the Earth to within 1.4 lunar distances. By the time it was observed on Tuesday, January 29, 2008, its approximate magnitude was 10.3, eventually becoming more faint as it passed by Earth. According to NASA’s Near Earth Object Program at that date, something the size of the 2007 TU24 will pass this close to earth every 5 years or so, so obviously there is a conflicting opinion on its occurrence between NASA then and NASA now.
Since the estimated number of these large-size asteroids which pass so close to Earth have numbered about 7,000, both discovered and estimated undiscovered objects, the statistics demonstrate that the average interval between actual impacts of Earth is about 37,000 years. This means until 2027 no close asteroid will come close to Earth.
The Catalina Sky Survey (CSS) is based at the University of Arizona, considered an astronomical survey that focuses on the discovery and study of Near Earth Asteroids and Comets. Its mission is to keep an inventory of near-earth objects (NEOs) which are potentially hazardous asteroids, posing an impact risk to Earth. The goal is important as many of the 20th century asteroid discoveries strongly suggest that impacts of planets in space actually play a major role in the evolution of life.
Technology of today allows the astronomers to inventory the NEO population, considered to be the first element in assessing their threat to Earth. Not including the chance of a hit, other scientific benefits for surveying these NEOs are present, according to CSS: improving the known population distribution in the main belt, finding the cometary distribution at larger perihelion distances, determining the distribution of NEOs as a product of collisional history and transport to the inner solar system, and also identifying potential targets for flight projects.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 29th, 2008 at 9:25 am and is filed under Space Agency News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
