borabora Posted July 5, 2009 #1 Share Posted July 5, 2009 On January 31, 2012 Eros is expected to pass Earth at 0.179 astronomical units (16.6 million miles), about 70 times the distance to the moon, with a visual magnitude of +8.5. During rare oppositions, every 81 years, such as in 1975 and 2056, Eros can reach a magnitude of +7.1, which is brighter than Neptune and brighter than any main belt asteroid except 4 Vesta and, rarely 2 Pallas and 7 Iris. Under this condition, the asteroid actually appears to stop, but unlike the normal condition for a body in heliocentric conjunction with the Earth, it never appears to be retrograde. Its synodic period of over 846 Earth days is among the largest of any body in the Solar System. ================================================================================ =================== Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jordiver Posted July 5, 2009 #2 Share Posted July 5, 2009 link to something?.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raptor Posted July 5, 2009 #3 Share Posted July 5, 2009 In the same way that thousands of other rocks have before it, and will after it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luckless13 Posted July 5, 2009 #4 Share Posted July 5, 2009 That happens all the time. Seriously, something like that is probably going to occur within the next week. It doesn't mean anything? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marby Posted July 5, 2009 #5 Share Posted July 5, 2009 Yeah, I don't get it. Things like this are always happening. Other than occasionally giving us a nice view of the sky with or without a telescope, there's really no meaning to it. Eclispses used to freak out primitive cultures. Are we meant to revert back to that sort of freaking out? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muspelli Posted July 7, 2009 #6 Share Posted July 7, 2009 Eros is a small dwarf planet out past Pluto. It has no chance of entering any closer than that simply because astronomers can easily calculate the orbit of an object in our solar system. Although I should note, astronomers and astronomy in general are not reputable sources, as one can cleary see by all of the Planet X type theories which completely ignore the fact that they exist. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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