Waspie_Dwarf Posted May 16, 2013 #1 Share Posted May 16, 2013 Asteroid 1998 QE2 to Sail Past Earth Nine Times Larger Than Cruise Ship On May 31, 2013, asteroid 1998 QE2 will sail serenely past Earth, getting no closer than about 3.6 million miles (5.8 million kilometers), or about 15 times the distance between Earth and the moon. And while QE2 is not of much interest to those astronomers and scientists on the lookout for hazardous asteroids, it is of interest to those who dabble in radar astronomy and have a 230-foot (70-meter) -- or larger -- radar telescope at their disposal."Asteroid 1998 QE2 will be an outstanding radar imaging target at Goldstone and Arecibo and we expect to obtain a series of high-resolution images that could reveal a wealth of surface features," said radar astronomer Lance Benner, the principal investigator for the Goldstone radar observations from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. Read more... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ancient astronaut Posted May 19, 2013 #2 Share Posted May 19, 2013 Surprised they(the MEDIA) aren't saying this is a "narrow miss" or a "extremely close call". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sundew Posted May 19, 2013 #3 Share Posted May 19, 2013 Don't tell Americans the QE2 will be sailing by, they'll be lining up waiting for the buffet to open.... (No hate mail, I'm also American, lol.) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
27vet Posted May 19, 2013 #4 Share Posted May 19, 2013 Lucky it's not docking here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kitty81 Posted May 19, 2013 #5 Share Posted May 19, 2013 second that Ancient Astronaut Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pallidin Posted May 19, 2013 #6 Share Posted May 19, 2013 I suppose it's only a matter of time before one of those bad-boys slaps our butt. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starseed hybrid 1111 Posted May 19, 2013 #7 Share Posted May 19, 2013 nice is it going to going to be see able with the naked eye?or do we need a telescope or high powered maybe night vision binoculars or etc.?pretty interesting though and awesome Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hawken Posted May 19, 2013 #8 Share Posted May 19, 2013 These Rock Stars have been passing by lately. Wasn't there one that came close a few months ago? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xanthurion2 Posted May 19, 2013 #9 Share Posted May 19, 2013 Big whoop. It's not even close to putting us in danger. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lava_Lady Posted May 20, 2013 #10 Share Posted May 20, 2013 Don't tell Americans the QE2 will be sailing by, they'll be lining up waiting for the buffet to open.... (No hate mail, I'm also American, lol.) Too late, the line goes around the block!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lava_Lady Posted May 20, 2013 #11 Share Posted May 20, 2013 These Rock Stars have been passing by lately. Wasn't there one that came close a few months ago? 2, that made the news anyway, in the last year. I don't remember the names though it was shortly after that whole Mayan calendar we're going to die on the 21st thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shrooma Posted May 20, 2013 #12 Share Posted May 20, 2013 there's a comet due at the back end of the year that's been dubbed 'the comet of the century', and that promises to be MUCH more exciting! (but you never really know with comets.) 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lava_Lady Posted May 20, 2013 #13 Share Posted May 20, 2013 there's a comet due at the back end of the year that's been dubbed 'the comet of the century', and that promises to be MUCH more exciting! (but you never really know with comets.) I can't wait to hear all the doomsayers near the end of the year when that one comes round ranting about the rapture and how we all have to be "saved" before we die. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bison Posted May 20, 2013 #14 Share Posted May 20, 2013 nice is it going to going to be see able with the naked eye?or do we need a telescope or high powered maybe night vision binoculars or etc.?pretty interesting though and awesome The object will attain a magnitude of ~ 16.8. Under normal conditions this would require a telescope with a objective mirror of about 33 inches (84 cm) diameter, in order to barely see it as a faint dot. The interesting views will come from radar astronomy, which will resolve features a few meters across on the object. Given the size of the object this works out to a picture of about 750 pixels per side, somewhere between the resolution of an analog and a HD television picture. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bison Posted May 20, 2013 #15 Share Posted May 20, 2013 (edited) The NASA article gives the diameter as ~ 2.7 km, but the tabular data at the NASA Near Earth Object page gives a range of values of 1.1 to 2.5 km. (average -- 1.8 km) The estimated size is based on the albedo, or color of the object. The darker it is, the less light it reflects, for a given size. The current size estimate seems to be based on an unexpectedly dark object; about 17% darker than the previously estimated darkest value, and 2 & 1/4 times darker than the previous median value. Edited May 20, 2013 by bison Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JesseCuster Posted May 20, 2013 #16 Share Posted May 20, 2013 (edited) These Rock Stars have been passing by lately. Wasn't there one that came close a few months ago? I'd say that's to do with the fact that better technology and more effort is being put into find NEOs.In the past, objects like this and the recent one would have glided past the earth and we would have been none the wiser. Edited May 20, 2013 by Archimedes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bison Posted May 21, 2013 #17 Share Posted May 21, 2013 I find that 16 is the absolute magnitude of the asteroid. It will attain a visual magnitude of about 11, around the time of its closest approach. This should make it it visible in a good pair of binoculars, though only as a dim point of light, given reasonably good seeing conditions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevemagegod Posted May 21, 2013 #18 Share Posted May 21, 2013 The article never said the date it is supposed to pass by. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waspie_Dwarf Posted May 21, 2013 Author #19 Share Posted May 21, 2013 The article never said the date it is supposed to pass by. It did, they were the very first words: On May 31, 2013, asteroid 1998 QE2 will sail serenely past Earth, getting no closer than about 3.6 million miles (5.8 million kilometers), or about 15 times the distance between Earth and the moon.Read more... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coolguy Posted May 21, 2013 #20 Share Posted May 21, 2013 Will we be able to see this Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmhough461997 Posted May 21, 2013 #21 Share Posted May 21, 2013 so this asteroid is gonna hit earth and kill everyone? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bison Posted May 21, 2013 #22 Share Posted May 21, 2013 Will we be able to see this Yes, with good 50mm binoculars (see my post ( # 17) above) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bison Posted May 21, 2013 #23 Share Posted May 21, 2013 so this asteroid is gonna hit earth and kill everyone? No. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sundew Posted May 21, 2013 #24 Share Posted May 21, 2013 Too late, the line goes around the block!! Mahalo! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevemagegod Posted May 22, 2013 #25 Share Posted May 22, 2013 It did, they were the very first words: o my bad i must of missed that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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