domingo, 18 de octubre de 2020

2020 UE Type Apollo

 https://www.minorplanetcenter.net/mpec/K20/K20U59.html






















Some Near Earth Objects (NEOs) are not discoverable until after they pass close to Earth because they approach us from the daytime sky. 2020 UE is a 30-50 meter wide NEO that was just discovered at CSS by observer R. A. Kowalski on October 17th. It appeared in the night sky after passing about 0.7 Lunar Distances (LD) from Earth on October 15th. The object was moving over 230 degrees/day across the sky when it first became visible to our survey telescopes and was not detected until two days later. The image attached was taken 2 days before the discovery of 2020 UE. The asteroid appears as a long streak in a 30 second exposure due to its proximity to Earth and speed. These NEOs are particularly dangerous in that there isn't currently a method to find them shortly before impact, they must be discovered months or years before impact. In 2013 a 20 meter wide asteroid approached from the daytime sky and impacted over Chelyabinsk Russia damaging buildings and injuring hundreds of people.
Discovering these objects is the primary goal of the Near-Earth Object Surveillance Mission (NEOSM). By placing an infrared space telescope inside of Earth's orbit they will be able to look back towards Earth and spot these rocks coming from the daytime sky.
You can read more about NEOSM (formally NEOCam) here: https://neocam.ipac.caltech.edu/

by Catalina Sky Survey.

viernes, 28 de agosto de 2020

Mars mision (Hope).


 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.