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Asteroid to Fly By Earth Safely on January 26


Waspie_Dwarf

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Asteroid to Fly By Earth Safely on January 26

An asteroid, designated 2004 BL86, will safely pass about three times the distance of Earth to the moon on January 26. From its reflected brightness, astronomers estimate that the asteroid is about a third of a mile (0.5 kilometers) in size. The flyby of 2004 BL86 will be the closest by any known space rock this large until asteroid 1999 AN10 flies past Earth in 2027.

At the time of its closest approach on January 26, the asteroid will be approximately 745,000 miles (1.2 million kilometers) from Earth.

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I will,have to have to do little search and see if it's going to be visible here.

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Asteroid to Fly By Earth Safely on January 26

This graphic depicts the passage of asteroid 2004 BL86, which will come no closer than about three times the distance from Earth to the moon on Jan. 26, 2015. Due to its orbit around the sun, the asteroid is currently only visible by astronomers with large telescopes who are located in the southern hemisphere. But by Jan. 26, the space rock's changing position will make it visible to those in the northern hemisphere.

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Source: NASA/JPL

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  • 2 weeks later...

Asteroid 2004 BL86 Has a Small Moon

Asteroid 2004 BL86 passed Earth on Jan. 26, 2015 at 16:19 UTC (11:19am EST). This "movie" of the asteroid was generated from radar data collected on that date by NASA's Deep Space Network antenna at Goldstone, California. Twenty individual images were used.

Radar observations allow scientists to better measure an asteroid's size, rotation and location. As a bonus, radar observations of 2004 BL86 detected a tiny moon orbiting the asteroid.

Credit: NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Source: NASA/JPL - Videos

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Given the extremely weak gravity of the asteroid and the relatively close encounter with the Earth, I wonder if our gravity tugged a bit on the moon and changed its orbit?

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Given the extremely weak gravity of the asteroid and the relatively close encounter with the Earth, I wonder if our gravity tugged a bit on the moon and changed its orbit?

Why would our gravity pull on the asteroid's moon and not the asteroid?

The other thing you have to realise is that gravity diminishes according to an inverse square law. The asteroid may have weak gravity compared to the Earth but the fact that it is so close to it's satellite means that the asteroid's gravity will dominate.

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Was this a Moon orbiting the asteroid or simply a companion flying alongside it? In other words not asteroid-moon but two asteroids flying along together through space while orbiting a common center of gravity?

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Was this a Moon orbiting the asteroid or simply a companion flying alongside it? In other words not asteroid-moon but two asteroids flying along together through space while orbiting a common center of gravity?

Your post doesn't make much sense.

If they are orbiting a common-centre of gravity and one object is considerably more massive than the other then that is the very definition of a parent body and satellite.

If what you mean is this two objects on a similar orbit around the sun but not in orbit around each other then no, that isn't a possibility. The mathematics for determining this have been known since Kepler's time and the people at NASA know how to apply them.

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Why would our gravity pull on the asteroid's moon and not the asteroid?

The other thing you have to realise is that gravity diminishes according to an inverse square law. The asteroid may have weak gravity compared to the Earth but the fact that it is so close to it's satellite means that the asteroid's gravity will dominate.

Thanks for the explanation, I guess I assumed that being the smaller body with less mass, the moon would be affected more by Earth's gravity. I was not suggesting the Earth pull the moon out of orbit, but perhaps only change the orbit slightly.

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As a bonus, radar observations of 2004 BL86 detected a tiny moon orbiting the asteroid.

fancy that....what a surprise ..!

.

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hahahaha in a million years that asteroid will become a planet

...

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Another civilisations Rosetta mission?

A Rosetta equivalent with a diameter of 230 feet? They must be giants, these alienz.

But nice idea anyway.

Edited by toast
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Your post doesn't make much sense.

If they are orbiting a common-centre of gravity and one object is considerably more massive than the other then that is the very definition of a parent body and satellite.

If what you mean is this two objects on a similar orbit around the sun but not in orbit around each other then no, that isn't a possibility. The mathematics for determining this have been known since Kepler's time and the people at NASA know how to apply them.

Isn't the general rule that if the center of rotation between the two bodies is within the larger body, that then the smaller is considered to be orbiting the larger?

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this doesn't make sense. the gravitational pull of a 500 km asteroid speeding in void space 3 times faster than the speed of a bullet seems to be physically impossible.

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Isn't the general rule that if the center of rotation between the two bodies is within the larger body, that then the smaller is considered to be orbiting the larger?

It's more complicated than that. No one would deny that Jupiter orbits the Sun, yet the Sun-Jupiter centre of mass (barycentre) lies outside of the Sun's surface.

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this doesn't make sense. the gravitational pull of a 500 km asteroid speeding in void space 3 times faster than the speed of a bullet seems to be physically impossible.

You are, it would seem, confusing things that don't make sense to you with things that don't make sense to other people. You have failed to see that it is your understanding that is at fault, not that of science.

It makes PERFECT sense if you have a rudimentary understanding of the basic science involved.

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lol :w00t:

so you find perfectly credible that a 500 meters in diameter meteorite flying between the slowest at 25,000 miles per hour (m.p.h.) and the fastest at 160,000 m.p.h capable to drag a tiny rock in space that follows it consciously based upon what ... i must ask according to what laws of physics?

Edited by qxcontinuum
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these two objects are nothing but magnets like most other meteorites. their core and composition is mostly formed by iron, they are continuously magnetized by friction with gas in space under higher velocity speed as well the absence of water. Since they travel in space at such speed obviously with no existent pole alignment, they would flip around so they are facing North to South poles, and clamp together, reaching zero acceleration and zero velocity immediately.

so really impossible

Edited by qxcontinuum
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