Obs L' Ametlla de Mar D49: agosto 2020

Emirates Mars Mission ("Hope") seen from record-breaking distance

On August 26th, the Catalina Sky Survey found an object that apparently had come very close to Earth around July 20th. Provisionally designated C332UJ2, it was initially believed to be a fairly large asteroid, possibly 150 metres in diameter. If true, this should have been an impossibly close encounter to miss.

Upon further inspection, it turned out that the object's position and orbit matched that of the Hope spacecraft, which is currently on its way to Mars following a launch on July 19th.

At a distance of 0.078 AU (11.7 million km), the spacecraft was not expected to be observable even with the largest telescopes. The unusual surge in brightness was likely due to reflections from the spacecraft's solar panels ("solar panel glints"). This is possible if the orientation of the spacecraft is just right.

No man-made object has ever been seen from anywhere near that distance. Hope, a.k.a. C332UJ2, is now the farthest man-made object ever observed!

By Daniel Bamberger.