Asteroid 2012 DA14

[V_R]

Been meaning to post this.... Ian's thread reminded me.

Apparently we should/might be able to see it around the 19:35 mark.

Small near-Earth asteroid 2012 DA14 will pass very close to Earth on February 15, so close that it will pass inside the ring of geosynchronous weather and communications satellites. NASA's Near-Earth Object Program Office can accurately predict the asteroid's path with the observations obtained, and it is therefore known that there is no chance that the asteroid might be on a collision course with Earth. Nevertheless, the flyby will provide a unique opportunity for researchers to study a near-Earth object up close. Here are the facts about the safe flyby of Earth of asteroid 2012 DA14 -- a record close approach for a known object of this size.

http://www.nasa.gov/topics/solarsystem/features/asteroidflyby.html

An asteroid as large as an Olympic swimming pool will race past the Earth on Friday at a distance of just 27,700km (17,200mi) - the closest ever predicted for an object of that size.

It will pass closer even than the geosynchronous satellites that orbit the Earth, but there is no risk of impacts or collisions.

Its closest approach will be 19:25 GMT.

For regions in darkness around that time, it will be visible using good binoculars or a telescope.

The asteroid's arrival was preceded by damaging meteor event in Russia on Friday - but indications from the meteor's path suggest that the two events are entirely unrelated - just a "cosmic coincidence", as Alan Fitzsimmons of Queens University Belfast told BBC News.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21442863

 

[TriplexDread]

Oooh thanks VR gonna have a look for that if I remember

 

[nivrip]

Sky here is almost totally clear. So may get to see it.

But I bet that at 19.25 the clouds will appear.

 

[Anon_F]

It's going to be close!!!
Well only 17,200 miles (27,700 kilometers) away.
Suggest people start panic buying food & petrol just in case it hits earth!!!

 

[crazylegs]

Cannot see anything here the sky is completely blocked out by cloud...Shame!

 

[nivrip]

Didn't see anything, of course.

But here's some footage from an observatory in Australia

Not a lot to see but it's the best available.