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A Parting Look at 2012 DA14: Was This a Warning Shot from Space?
Asteroid DA14 seen from the 2.1-meter Kitt Peak telescope as it departed the vicinity of Earth. Credit: NOAO/Nicholas Moskovitz (MIT)
Just as anticipated, on Friday, Feb. 15, asteroid 2012 DA14 passed us by, zipping 27,000 kilometers (17,000 miles) above Earth’s surface — well within the ring of geostationary weather and communications satellites that ring our world. Traveling a breakneck 28,100 km/hr (that’s nearly five miles a second!) the 50-meter space rock was a fast-moving target for professional and amateur observers alike. And even as it was heading away from Earth DA14 was captured on camera by a team led by MIT researcher Dr. Nicholas Moskovitz using the 2.1-meter telescope at the Kitt Peak National Observatory in Tucson, AZ. The team’s images are shown above as an animated gif (you may need to click the image to play it.)
This object’s close pass, coupled with the completely unexpected appearance of a remarkably large meteor in the skies over Chelyabinsk, Russia on the morning of the same day, highlight the need for continued research of near-Earth objects (NEOs) — since there are plenty more out there where these came from.
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Read the rest of A Parting Look at 2012 DA14: Was This a Warning Shot from Space? (642 words)
© Jason Major for Universe Today, 2013. |
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Post tags: asteroid, DA14, flyby, Goldstone, Kitt Peak, Moskowitz, near Earth object, neo, observatory, telescope
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2013-02-18 13:15:59
Source: http://www.universetoday.com/100061/a-parting-look-at-2012-da14-was-this-a-warning-shot-from-space/
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