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Bible Study Title: Large Asteroid Coming Close On Earth April 19, 2017 A big asteroid will have a safely sweep past Earth on April 19, 2017. It’ll come so close – and it’s known so far in advance – that scientists will be able to study the space rock using both radar and optical observations. The flyby should also be visible in amateur telescopes. Asteroid 2014 JO25 was discovered by astronomers at the Catalina Sky Survey near Tucson, Arizona in May 2014. It appears to be roughly 2,000 feet (650 meters) in size, with a surface about twice as reflective as that of Earth’s moon. The asteroid will safely pass at some 1,098,733 miles (1,768,239 km ) from our planet or about 4.6 times the distance from Earth to the moon. After analyzing the orbit of Asteroid 2014 JO25, astronomers have realized the April 19 encounter is the closest this asteroid has come to Earth for at least 400 years and will be its closest approach for at least the next 500 years. There is no danger as the space rock’s orbit is well known. The asteroid will be close to star 41 Comae, which is very close to Beta Comae. This star is magnitude 4 and thus visible to the unaided eye. Illustration by Eddie Irizarry using Stellarium. That’s fast enough for its motion to be detected though an amateur telescope. The best strategy to catch the space rock in your telescope is to observe a star known to be in the asteroid’s path, and wait for it. If you are looking at the correct time and direction, the asteroid will appear as a very slowly moving “star.” Although its distance from us will make the space rock appear to move slowly, it is in fact traveling though space at a speed of 75,072 mph (120,816 km/h)! Because it will appear to move very slowly, observers should take a good look at a reference star for a few minutes (not seconds) to detect the moving object. Although asteroid 2014 JO25 will be closest to Earth on the morning of Wednesday, April 19, 2017, (around 7:24 a.m. Central Time / 12:24 UTC) the space rock may look a bit brighter (but still only visible in telescopes) during the night of April 19, because the asteroid will be at a higher elevation in our skies. At around 9:30 p.m. Central Time on April 19, the space rock will be passing very close to 41 Comae Berenices (HIP 64022) a 4.8 magnitude star which is visible to the naked eye from suburban and dark skies. Illustration by Eddie Irizarry using Stellarium. Will it be visible from both hemispheres? Yes. Observers in the Northern Hemisphere will be able to locate the asteroid both on the predawn hours and during the night of April 19. From South America, the space rock will only be visible during the night of April 19, at over 25 degrees above the northern horizon. Observers in Africa and Australia will also be able to spot the asteroid on April 19-20. The asteroid’s nearness to Earth at the time of closest approach might cause a slight parallax effect. That means the space rock’s apparent nearness on our sky’s dome to a fixed star might differ slightly, as seen from different locations across Earth. Thus, if you don’t see the asteroid at the expected time, scan one more field of view up and down from your reference star, that is, the star you are waiting to see the asteroid to pass by. By 10 p.m. Central Time, the asteroid will be passing close to star HIP 63891. At 11:40 p.m. Central Time (April 19) is passing by star HIP 63493. Illustration by Eddie Irizarry using Stellarium. Bottom line: Asteroid 2014 JO25 will pass safely at 4.6 times the moon’s distance. People with small telescopes might be able to spot it. Charts here and other info on how to see it. See also here on the significance of this event. watchfortheday.org/draco.html Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread |
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