NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft has acquired its first images of comet C/2012 S1 (ISON). The images were taken by the spacecraft's Medium-Resolution Imager over a 36-hour period on Jan. 17 and 18, 2013, from a distance of 493 million miles (793 million kilometers). Many scientists anticipate a bright future for comet ISON; the spaceborne conglomeration of dust and ice may put on quite a show as it passes through the inner solar system this fall.
"This is the fourth comet on which we have performed science observations and the farthest point from Earth from which we've tried to transmit data on a comet," said Tim Larson, project manager for the Deep Impact spacecraft at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "The distance limits our bandwidth, so it's a little like communicating through a modem after being used to DSL. But we're going to coordinate our science collection and playback so we maximize our return on this potentially spectacular comet." Read more here
But before comet ISON arrives on Dec. 26, 2013 (ISON will not be a threat to Earth - getting no closer to Earth than about 40 million miles) the asteroid 2012 DA14 will pass within about 3.5 Earth radii of the Earth's surface on February 15, 2013. It will pass inside the geosynchronous satellite ring, located about 35,800 kilometers (21,748 miles) above the equator. The impact energy is listed as 2.41 megatons of TNT.
NASA says this asteroid is not Earth bound. The asteroid rates as a 0 on the Torino Scale impact hazard scale. At its closest approach, the asteroid could be as close as 14,000 miles from the Earth. The small asteroid is estimated to be about 60 meters (about 200 feet) across. It is not likely to collide with any satellites. However, when it flies past Earth it will be under the influence of the Earth's gravitational field. Passing close to the Earth could cause the asteroid's orbit to change and bring it closer to Earth - or father away from Earth.
Telephone and television satellites are parked in geostationary orbits in the Clarke Belt at 22,500 miles with less than two degree spacing.
2012 DA14 will pass through our communication satellite belt twice: First time - On its way toward Earth and Second time - back through the belt again on its way out. Angle at which the object 2012 DA14 enters and leaves the Clarke Belt will determine the possibility of taking out one or more satellites.
It is unknown what other rocks 2012 DA14 may have traveling along with it towards Earth. If this asteroid, 60 meters in diameter, will, if Earth's gravity impacts its trajectory as some believe, strike North Africa with the force of 2000 nuclear weapons, a collision not unlike that of the "Tunguska event" of 1908.
Source: greys-area.blogspot.com
dailygalaxy - NASA authorities report that an unrelated object roughly the Terracotta from difficult space is forcefully in actuality impersonation in corrupt positively than being an asteroid. Be after 2010 KQ was detected by the Catalina Sky Test in Arizona to the rear this month, and it follows that tracked by NASA's asteroid-watching convenience, the Near-Earth Be after Become hard headquartered at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California.
Notes by astronomer S J Bus, by the use of the NASA-sponsored Infrared Diminish Scope in Mauna Kea, Hawaii, normal that 2010 KQ's spectral self do not fall in with any of the certain asteroid types, and the object's huge degree (28.9) suggests it is in basic terms a few meters in size.
The shady impersonation object has in all probability finished a result supply by the Terracotta, upcoming in forcefully to the distance of the Moon's crowd, and is now headed whisper anew inwards the interplanetary space. The object has cast-off no propulsion featuring in the time NASA has had it under observation. Nevertheless the spacewatch experts use that it must have stimulated under its own sanction at one spot, unmovable its turn and quickness.
"The crowd of this object is very faithful to that of the Terracotta, and one would not optimism a object to go on in this type of crowd for very ache," intended Paul Chodas, at JPL.
The experts use that the object must be a spacecraft, or section of one - expected to be a vaccination purpose from an interplanetary plan of the behind, now drifting strengthen in to Terracotta and out anew. The next stumble preference probably be 2036, at which time there's a petty time off that 2010 KQ preference crash inwards the surroundings and flicker up.
The NASA conspire more shows the footstep of the near-Earth object certain as 2010 KQ, which the space agency intended is expected a used up rocket purpose that escaped the Earth-moon system being ago, and not an asteroid.
"Don Yeomans, Paul Chodas and Steve Chesley
NASA/JPL Near-Earth Be after Become hard Department
May 27, 2010
A petty asteroid-like object has been discovered in an crowd about the Sun that is so faithful to the Earth's crowd that scientists fiercely conclusion it to be a rocket purpose that escaped being ago from the Earth-Moon system. The object was discovered on May 16, 2010 by Richard Kowalski at the Catalina Sky Test, and has it follows that been observed by multitude observers, by Excitement Ryan (Magdalena Bank Observatory) and Peter Birtwhistle (England). It was unmovable the asteroid tag 2010 KQ by the Minor Planet Hub in Cambridge Massachusetts, who identified its crowd as being very faithful to that of the Terracotta. Gyrate refinements by JPL's Paul Chodas and owing astronomer Excitement Imprecise have not at home that this object was very result to the Terracotta in prematurely 1975, but the footstep is not certain subsequent to amply reliability to go around with the object subsequent to any precise make a start. Save for, scientists do not optimism that a material object possibly will go on in this type of crowd for very ache for example of its convincingly high crash likelihood subsequent to the Terracotta. In fact, an remedy carried out by Paul Chodas suggests that 2010 KQ has a 6% time off of impacting the Terracotta over a 30-year schedule commencing in 2036.
Near-infrared spectral section of this object carried out by S.J. Bus (Institution of Hawaii) by the use of the NASA IRTF contract on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, normal that its spectral self do not fall in with those of any of the certain asteroid types, and in fact are faithful to those of a rocket shell. The object's huge degree (28.9) as well as suggests that it is in basic terms a few meters in size, about the size of a peak purpose. Further remarks over the upcoming months necessity consent scientists to discern how fiercely solar radiation threats affects the object's suggest, a consequence that possibly will supply enlighten a forceful, craggy asteroid from a lighter put on object.
Even in the uncertain go fast that this object is headed for crash subsequent to the Terracotta, whether it is an asteroid or rocket shell, it is so petty that it would divorce in the surroundings and not get as far as put out of action on the ground.
NOTE: I was under the perception that NASA tracked all the space smash. As well, rocket sections are whispered to re-enter the surroundings and flicker up. So, if this is the case, why did it not go on in crowd if it is an earth finished object? Lon
NASA/JPL Appliance 'Artificial Object' Detected
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UFO Disinformation: Whose Truthiness Can We Trust? by Amelia Hollow
Having the status of Ben and Aaron presently interviewed abduction experiencer Dave Eckhart in MU Plus+ Aftermath 123, he told them that if the government knew an eighth of what he did about the alien shelve, nearby would never be disclosure.
If he possibly will ensure that frog-ape aliens carried him from his bed to off-world health check services someplace Reptilian doctors operated on him flatten multitude other men, women and descendants, it would be a real PR imagine for the government.
Sadly, Dave lacks arduous evidence to strengthen up his story, and in the function of everybody knows from top to toe claims insist on from top to toe evidence, his alien visitations preference be dismissed as dishonesty or delusions and role who doubts that answer preference risk colonize delude. Clap to delay at Enchanting Fabrication
Asteroid 1998 QE2 will be an outstanding radar-imaging target May 31, and astronomers expect to obtain a series of high-resolution images that could reveal a wealth of surface features. By Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California - Published: May 20, 2013"The orbit of asteroid 1998 QE2. // NASA/JPL-Caltech"On May 31, 2013, asteroid 1998 QE2 will sail serenely past Earth, getting no closer than about 3.6 million miles (5.8 million kilometers), or about 15 times the distance between Earth and the Moon. While QE2 is not of much interest to those astronomers and scientists on the lookout for hazardous asteroids, it is of interest to those who dabble in radar astronomy and have a 230-foot (70 meters) or larger radar telescope at their disposal.
"Asteroid 1998 QE2 will be an outstanding radar imaging target at Goldstone and Arecibo, and we expect to obtain a series of high-resolution images that could reveal a wealth of surface features," said radar astronomer Lance Benner from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. "Whenever an asteroid approaches this closely, it provides an important scientific opportunity to study it in detail to understand its size, shape, rotation, surface features, and what they can tell us about its origin. We will also use new radar measurements of the asteroid's distance and velocity to improve our calculation of its orbit and compute its motion farther into the future than we could otherwise."
The closest approach of the asteroid occurs on May 31 at 4:59 p.m. Eastern time. This is the closest approach the asteroid will make to Earth for at least the next two centuries. Asteroid 1998 QE2 was discovered August 19, 1998, by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Lincoln Near Earth Asteroid Research (LINEAR) program near Socorro, New Mexico.
The asteroid, which is believed to be about 1.7 miles (2.7 kilometers) in size, was named by the NASA-supported Minor Planet Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts, which gives each newly discovered asteroid a provisional designation starting with the year of first detection, along with an alphanumeric code indicating the half-month it was discovered and the sequence within that half-month.
Radar images from the Goldstone antenna could resolve features on the asteroid as small as 12 feet (3.75 meters) across, even from 4 million miles (6 million km) away.
"It is tremendously exciting to see detailed images of this asteroid for the first time," said Benner. "With radar, we can transform an object from a point of light into a small world with its own unique set of characteristics. In a real sense, radar imaging of near-Earth asteroids is a fundamental form of exploring a whole class of solar system objects."
Asteroids, which are always exposed to the Sun, can be shaped like almost anything under it. Those previously imaged by radar and spacecraft have looked like dog bones, bowling pins, spheroids, diamonds, muffins, and potatoes. To find out what 1998 QE2 looks like, stay tuned. Between May 30 and June 9, radar astronomers using NASA's 230-foot-wide (70 meters) Deep Space Network antenna at Goldstone, California, and the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico are planning an extensive campaign of observations. The two telescopes have complementary imaging capabilities that will enable astronomers to learn as much as possible about the asteroid during its brief visit near Earth.
NASA places a high priority on tracking asteroids and protecting our home planet from them. In fact, the U.S. has the most robust and productive survey and detection program for discovering near-Earth objects (NEOs). To date, U.S. assets have discovered over 98 percent of the known NEOs.
In 2012, the NEO budget was increased from 6 million to 20 million. Literally dozens of people are involved with some aspect of NEO research across NASA and its centers. Moreover, there are many more people involved in researching and understanding the nature of asteroids and comets, including those that come close to Earth plus those who are trying to find and track them in the first place.
In addition to the resources NASA puts into understanding asteroids, it also partners with other U.S. government agencies, university-based astronomers, and space science institutes across the country that are working to track and better understand these objects, often with grants, interagency transfers, and other contracts from NASA.
In 2016, NASA will launch a robotic probe to one of the most potentially hazardous of the known NEOs. The OSIRIS-REx mission to asteroid Bennu (101955) will be a pathfinder for future spacecraft designed to perform reconnaissance on any newly- discovered threatening objects. Aside from monitoring potential threats, the study of asteroids and comets enables a valuable opportunity to learn more about the origins of our solar system, the source of water on Earth, and even the origin of organic molecules that lead to the development of life.
NASA recently announced developing a first-ever mission to identify, capture, and relocate an asteroid for human exploration. Using game-changing technologies advanced by the Administration, this mission would mark an unprecedented technological achievement that raises the bar of what humans can do in space. Capturing and redirecting an asteroid will integrate the best of NASA's science, technology, and human exploration capabilities and draw on the innovation of America's brightest scientists and engineers.
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