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Incoming 270 Meter Mammoth Asteroid 2000 EM26 (Moby Dick) Goes Missing Near Earth (Video)

Saturday, February 22, 2014 5:31

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(N.Morgan) The asteroid known as Moby Dick, that was coming near the earth, has gone missing. It is not uncommon for asteroids to go missing, but its apparent disappearance highlights just how poor Earth is at asteroid surveillance. So what has happened to asteroid 2000 EM26? The most likely scenario is that it is on a very different path from its expected trajectory, and the telescope wasn’t looking in the right place, says Slooh CEO Michael Paolucci. Generally, astronomers try to predict an asteroid’s trajectory by looking at how light reflects off its surface. This tells them what it is probably made of, how it is spinning and where it might go next.

Asteroid 2000 EM26 was discovered 14 years ago and has not been seen since, so astronomers have limited information about it. Not knowing enough about how the asteroid rotates makes it hard to know how other forces, like radiation pressure from sunlight, might nudge the rock onto a different trajectory.

Generally, it is not unusual to be uncertain about any asteroid’s future whereabouts, says Paolucci. Even before Moby Dick failed to show, the telescope’s operators were deliberating with a partner in Dubai about exactly where to look. “It’s a major chore figuring out how to reacquire asteroids,” says Paolucci. “It’s almost like discovering them all over again.”

Total 7 comments

Anonymous

While 2000 EM26 probably has just been lost due to inaccurate orbital parameters, it is not the first recent object to ‘just disappear’.

According to SOHO’s Karl Battams, ISON survived perihelion, and shortly after this observation, it just disappeared. Oddly enough, NASA SOHO Frame #142 shows a ‘ray’ of something hitting it before it just as it disappeared.

For a writeup, Google or Bing: THE COMET ISON SHOOTDOWN

OK astronomers, find it or admit the incredible.

Feb 22, 2014, 3:43 pm 0 Reply
- LightandLife
  
  Ison was not shot down… it survived and came out the other side intact
  
  Feb 22, 2014, 8:55 pm 0 Reply
  - Bfintron23a
    
    I thought it was destroyed and did not come from behind the sun
    
    http://www.zazzle.com/ravens_space_photos
    
    Feb 23, 2014, 11:40 am 0 Reply
- AMERICA HAS RISEN
  
  You’re an idiot.
  
  Feb 23, 2014, 3:36 am 0 Reply
BooBoo

WTH is this about, no reference to anything, or any t hing to prove a 270 Meter Mammoth Asteroid 2000 EM26

Feb 22, 2014, 10:04 pm 0 Reply
BooBoo

WTH is this about, no reference to anything, or any t thing to prove a 270 Meter Mammoth Asteroid 2000 EM26

Feb 22, 2014, 10:04 pm 0 Reply
Banderman

Rename it. Problem solved. New name? Waldo.

Feb 24, 2014, 6:48 pm 0 Reply