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Subscribe to RSSNASA looks at the flyby of asteroid 2012 DA14 from several amateur observatories across Australia.
Asteroid 2012 DA14 has made its closest pass of Earth, just a scant 17,200 miles from our surface, and now astronomers are watching it recede harmlessly into the cosmos. You can watch it, too, thanks to a variety of webcasts.
The time of closest approach came at 2:25 p.m. ET, as scheduled, when the asteroid was zooming above the eastern Indian Ocean at a speed of almost 17,500 mph (7.8 kilometers per second). It was too dim to see with the naked eye, but observers in Australia, Asia and Europe could follow it with binoculars or small telescopes.
"It's on its way out now," said Paul Chodas, an astronomer with the Near-Earth Object Program Office at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.
Read: Meteor vs. asteroid? Terms get tangled when describing space rocks
Chodas and his colleagues monitored 2012 DA14 with high-powered optical telescopes and huge radar dishes to learn more about the asteroid's color, shape, spin and reflectivity. Such data could tell them what the object is made of, and perhaps provide insights into how similar objects could be diverted if they were on a threatening course.
Experts estimate that asteroids the size of 2012 DA14 hit our planet every 1,200 years or so, exploding with the energy of a 2.5-megaton atomic bomb: The last such impact struck a remote region of Siberia without warning in 1908, flattening 820 square miles of forest. If an object that big were to hit in just the wrong place, it could wipe out a city. Coincidentally, a much smaller space rock came down over Russia on Friday, sparking a fireball and a glass-shattering shock wave.
Even though the 150-foot-wide (45-meter-wide) asteroid 2012 DA14 is the biggest object of its kind to be seen coming this close to Earth, its orbit is so well-known that NASA's Near-Earth Object Program can rule out any chance of collision in the foreseeable future. And even though 2012 flew 5,000 miles closer than satellites in geosynchronous orbit, NASA said its mostly south-to-north orbital path went through a "sweet spot" that kept it far away from those satellites — as well as from other spacecraft that are in closer orbits, including the International Space Station.
Astronomer hope their observations of 2012 DA14 will provide insights into subtle phenomena such as seismic disturbances that are induced by Earth's gravitational kick, or characteristics of the asteroid's spin that are affected by radiation absorption and emission.
This animated set of three images shows 2012 DA14 as it was observed by the Faulkes Telescope South in Australia on Feb. 14 at a distance of 465,000 miles. The asteroid is the moving bright spot in the middle. NASA's website provides details. Credit: LCOGT / E. Gomez / Faulkes South / Remanzacco Observatory.
Radar readings provide the best way to get a fix on the asteroid's shape and spin, in part because observations from multiple radio telescopes can be combined to produce a clearer picture. During the 2012 DA14 encounter, scientists used radio telescopes in California and New Mexico to produce new sets of radar imagery.
The first pictures from NASA's 230-foot (70-meter) dish at Goldstone, Calif., are due to be released on Saturday, and eventually those radar images will be combined to produce a 3-D map of the space rock.
Other telescopes, spread out from Australia to Israel to the Canary Islands to the U.S., gathered optical data — and the images from some of those telescopes were shared over the Internet on Friday. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory has been passing along pictures from a variety of telescopes via its Ustream video channel. Here's a rundown of other post-encounter webcasts:
5 p.m. ET: The Virtual Telescope Project 2.0 presents live video of the asteroid flyby from a telescope in Italy, weather permitting. Video site: Watch Virtual Telescope Project's webcast.
6 p.m. ET: Weather permitting, the Clay Center Observatory in Massachusetts will stream real-time, high-definition video from 6 p.m. ET until 4 a.m. ET Saturday. Watch Clay Center video on Ustream.
9 p.m. ET: Slooh Space Camera plans to present several live shows about the asteroid flyby, accompanied by expert commentary. Weather permitting, imagery will be beamed to Slooh HQ from telescopes on the Canary Islands and in Arizona. Watch the show on Slooh.com.
9 p.m. ET: A video feed of the flyby from a telescope at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center will be streamed for three hours. During the live-streaming event, viewers can ask researchers questions about the flyby via Twitter or the Ustream chat window. Watch Marshall's Ustream channel.
Chodas said the initial observations confirmed scientists' estimates of 2012 DA14's size, but other revelations will have to wait until astronomers have had a chance to analyze the data collected on Friday. By that time, the asteroid will be long gone. Earth's gravitational influence has changed 2012 DA14's orbit to keep it farther away from our planet during future orbits.
"It won't return for many, many years," he said.
More about the asteroid encounter:
- How 2012 DA14 rates among asteroid hits and misses
- Would-be miners say asteroid is worth $195 billion
- Hooray! Earth will kick asteroid into a safer orbit
- Flash interactive: Close encounters of the asteroid kind
- NBCNews.com's archive on asteroids
Alan Boyle is NBCNews.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter and adding the Cosmic Log page to your Google+ presence. To keep up with Cosmic Log as well as NBCNews.com's other stories about science and space, sign up for the Tech & Science newsletter, delivered to your email in-box every weekday. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.
This story was originally published on Fri Feb 15, 2013 7:51 AM EST
Leave a Comment:
Just hope it passes by. Where's Bruce Willis when you need him.
making another bad movie. a 60/yr old+ "action hero"!! plezzzzzz
is the meteor that came in and exploded today over Russia, if i recall, part of this one? Sounds too close for real comfort. They should try blowing it up or something to even see if such a plan would work in the future.
The fact is im sure nasa new about the small metour but how do u tell a city that your going to be hit my a metour at so in so time with out putting everyone in a panic which in turn will cause more harm then good
Referring to the meteorite impact in Russia as a coincidence?
How stupid do we earth citizens appear to you "authorities?"
We, as citizens of this earth, will be the last ones to know when the end is upon us. Go have another beer, say your prayers and just live your life.
Hope-295312
Just look at the current events in politics, and world violence if you have any intelligence you can see why and where the Disingenuous authorities/media playing on the stupidity factor of the populous comes from.
willisss43@yahoo.com
Please post in English
Well, I hate to disappoint all you conspiracy theory freaks, but this meteor is not related to the asteroid. The meteor that exploded was probably too small for anyone to notice until it entered the atmosphere.
The astronomers say it's not.
cosmiclog.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/15/16969092-streaking-meteor-explodes-in-russian-sky-injuring-nearly-1000?lite
"The fireball reports spread just hours before a 150-foot-wide asteroid was due to make a close flyby, coming within 17,200 miles of Earth. It's unlikely that there's any connection between the fireball and the encounter asteroid, known as 2012 DA14."
In addition to NASA's webcast I recommend The Planetary Society's program:
http://www.planetary.org/explore/projects/neo-grants/2012da14.html
Their show will begin at 2:15pm Eastern / 11:15am Pacific / 1915 GMT
(It was The Planetary Society's partner - La Sagra Observatory in Spain - who DISCOVERED 2012 DA14.)
The Planetary Society does really good work; highly recommended.
(NOTE: I'm a member of the Planetary Society, but have never held a position with, nor ever received any funding from them. I just think that they rock.)
Cheers! ~Michael (Astronomy.FM★Radio)
@Hope-295312 if you are not so stupid as you say you are than give me an explanation on how the russian meteor is coming in one direction and DA14 the other?
"Harmlessly". All of those people in the hospital covered in glass would beg to differ.
@Hope-295312 Hope, science is not a conspiracy. Knock off the paranoia, please.
@ Ernestito If you're referring to the "harmlessly" in the article, note that it's in reference to the asteroid, which has nothing to do with the meteor event in Russia.
To all of you alarmists/conspiracy theorists/apocalypse freaks etc.: The meteor that hit Russia came from a completely different direction, thus not part of this. No government and or super secret world domination society tried to keep us "in the dark"... Please connect your brains before you start typing
Was this larger one too close for comfort? maybe, but it was too far to pose a real danger...
Funny thing that we are distracted from this, for the most part, by a stupid cruise ship going 0.06 mph trying to get to port. Talk about watching paint dry!
Beware of Friday the thirteenth in not do distant future.
Even if it was to hit saying nothing beforehand is better than warning anyone..
It's better to have panic after cause we could do nothing but watch anyway !!
please decipher your giberish!
Isn't it interesting that this large asteroid passes by the same day another impacts Russia. Are the two connected at all? Are they on the same trajectory?
Paranoid asteroid psychosis.
Is that what it's called? Maybe as deprogrammer said below, the asteroid brought some friends with it? They sometimes travel in groups I assume.
We(our military) should try to target the asteroid just to see if we can, in case of a future asteroid coming along that could be a danger to earth.
I wonder if anYone is throwing an asteroid party? Any reason for some people ya know.
Party on Garth.
Nope - they are coming from totally opposite directions.
"Are they on the same trajectory?"
That was my first thought too, but it appears it was just cosmic dumb luck. They approached from very different directions.
Nice distraction by the controlled media to keep attention off earthly matters such as deficits, sequester, etc.
Yeah! Who cares about giant space rocks that could have possibly killed thousands if the Earth was just 15 minutes ahead of where it is now (that's how close this thing was to hitting us). What a stupid thing to care about. It's much more important to get back to guys in suits arguing and disagreeing about spending money.
Well fritzo, now that we DON'T need to worry about it ANYWAY, we big people can get back to the business at hand and concern ourselves with things that actually matter.
Meanwhile, adjust your tinfoil hat straight again to keep thos pesky dinosaurs away.
You know, many of us can pay attention to more than one thing at a time, and have a natural curiosity. Not all, but many.
Obviously: I can pay attention to your drivel, trounce it, watch the news and work at the same time. Being of a superior ilk to the sheeple is so time-consuming, but so rewarding ;) Enjoy!
Might as well pay attention to things we can do something about. Wall street scumbags, scumbag politicians, and the ignorant people they dupe (mostly right wing, flyover state, sister-****ing trash) are inevitable.
Buzz by harmlessly? One just buzzed Russia harming hundreds, and I have seen dozens of meteors skimming the surface of our atmosphere already this morning, meaning they are a hell of a lot closer than 17,000 miles. Perhaps DA14 2012 brought some friends with him.
Meteoroids are common. The dozens you saw this morning skimming our atmosphere - I assume you mean shooting stars? Those really aren't skimming our atmosphere so much as they are burning up as they enter it. They are indeed mostly harmless, usually the size of a grain of sand, and it happens all the time. Asteroids are larger, not very common. The one in Russia did not just "buzz by". It made it into the atmosphere and created a supersonic fireball. The sonic boom is what caused the damage and the injuries, not the asteroid itself. It was still much smaller than the one NASA is tracking.
This one's orbit well defined and easily trackable. It will not make it into the atmosphere, so yes, it will "buzz by harmlessly".
They have only been hitting the planet since day one. Except today they have video. It set off car alarms. Wow !!!!!!
Fact - NASA , And Other Agencies Do Have ETAS .
Russia , And The United States Both Seem To Miss A Large Piece Of Iron / Metal As Incoming ?
" BULL@!$%# " - They Knew . - Come On - If I'm Not To Miss My Guess ,
Aren't - ICBM's - Made Of Iron / Metal .
No, ICBMs are not made of iron.
I wonder if they will move congress and the President to an underground bunker just incase they are wrong?
Great, that means even after Armageddon the very same @!$%#s who are screwing up the world will survive to continue the insanity.
deprogrammer - ha - I've thought the same thing myself. Ironic isn't it? The mischief makers will mostly survive to promulgate the insanity. The peasants will be pushing up daisies mostly. (Maybe that's preferable actually . . . )
Got my butterfly net out just in case it hits nearby...could sell it on eBay!
king tutt was right. nasa said no injuries would occur. nasa: 'NOTHER AGENCY of STUPID ASSES!
ha, ha, very dumb remark. if you have nothing ro say keep quiet!
Are you talking to yourself?
The most ironic comment on the internets today....
I realize what a great day it is today. Astronomy and asteroids leading the headlines instead of politics and propaganda from our elected officials and Feisty Carrotop.
kind of worries me to think about what really IS going on then.
Don't worry. There's always something next (we call it 'current events' now, 'history' later), and in any case, you should never overestimate the public's attention span.
Another close call with countless more climate changers to go, if only we knew how many more are on their way towards our planet. Once in a decade is becoming outdated.
A non political story and you people just keep at it.
Hopefully the technology will improve enough they can warn us of the harmful 'little ones' some day. I chatted with a Russian who says his ears are still ringing.
I hope I get to watch on line as the other one passes through. That could be fun. Who knows, may a couple of small ones could drop by as well.
I'm looking forward to the conspiracy folks weaving this one into their fantasies. Sometimes they are entertaining.
Well People , I Know Many Russian Men From America , & Many Cities In RUSSIA , Some Maybe Crooked Arms Dealers , ? / And Others Either Ex Military , / Some Still In , Many Corrupt Things Are Known By Me From The Trusted Intel I From The Men . Some May Be Special Ops . " And From Seeing And Knowing Being Ex Military For Near 9 Years I Made Some Friends In " HIGH PLACES . "
Ttyl .
Some day all our wars, politics and daily strife, mostly caused by each other, will pale in comparison to the potential disaster caused by a large asteroid impact. It may not happen for a thousand years....but it will happen. And it's going to take some teamwork to avert a strike.
Maybe then the R's and D's can turn into US and WE.
Nah, they'll create gridlock in congress, and the president will have to issue an executive order requiring us to all bend over and die....but only after he/she blames the opposing party for the entire darn thing.
In a thousand years, deflecting one of these will be somebody's high school project...
Best comment I've seen here pointed out that in tension filled days of the Cold War the Soviet military leaders might have pulled the trigger (pushed the button) thinking we had launched on them.
Now we have Russian citizens posting on YouTube instead. I think I like this better than the good old days.
I understand your point but the reality is that even in those "tension filled days" both the US and USSR had the ability to distinguish between a surface launched ICBM on a ballistic trajectory and an extraterrestrial object on a non-ballistic trajectory.
My God is still in charge.
Oh, good. Mine was getting tired.
I hope someone takes the track of the Russian meteor and draws a line around the planet so we can see where would have impacted had it been a different time of day/place in the path
This is just an example how ridiculous the human race is ---
We have only two major enemies
1] The microscopic one cell creatures who want to invade our bodies and kill us
2] A huge universe that has no reason nor conscience about destroying life
Yet we spend most of our time killing, torturing, hating, abusing and ridiculing each other………..
uhhh, we are just a minor element of that large and ignorant universe. Why, as a whole, would we be any different?
Artur Heart - I hear you. Were we to put our energy toward life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for ALL living on the planet, it could be one big fun garden party. Seriously.
in the middle -22 unfortunately trumped any argument toward human enlightenment with her/his wise statement.
Wonder what the second bright point that appears in the 3 images was (appears in one of the images). In that it only occurred on one image it must have been moving much faster than 2012 DA14.
Regarding the one that burst over Russia this morning, if it was related and came off the main body sometime after the images NASA and the other trackers used to figured the orbit for 2012 DA14 or if the main body is braking up then their orbital calculations for 2012 DA14 are now crap.
Please explain the orbital mechanics that would allow an object to break off of another then speed up and change direction so that it impacted the earth before the first object, on a completely different orbital plane and moving almost twice the speed of the original object???
Somerset,
probably a satellite.
Too bad Dishnetwork took down their channel (a few weeks ago) that had been showing a live image of Earth from their satellite. Would have been nice to watch the show from space.
Wonder if that was just chance or if someone made them remove the channel?
there have been many close calls since the earth has been in the solar system, some have even caused mass death on earth,after the water and oxygen evaporate and the people leave the earth it will happend many more times.It is a great thing to witness even if its on a screen
Of all the sucky animations out there of the asteroid here is a fairly decent one. http: //youtu.be/38ps1R9yQrM
.
Apparently, to view the above link you will need to remove the space after the http:
After several min’s I’ve calculated that the “gravitational footprint” of overweight humans has shifted the natural dynamics of Earth’s gravitational pull to grab more space rocks than normal.
The meteorite that hit Siberia is probably part of a cluster coming around the DA14. I dont trust nasa. You never know it could be pulled in by earths and moons gravity, I guess it depends what the asteroid is made of. If it is gold then whoever finds it will be rich or dead.