Asteroid 2010 AL30 at only 0.0009 A.U. from the Earth

[ricci]

On day January 13 the asteroid 2010 AL30 will be at only 0.0009 A.U. from the Earth.

www.pierpaoloricci.it/news_eng.htm (http://www.pierpaoloricci.it/news_eng.htm)

[Greg Bock]

Hi all,
i received this from Space Weather today which suggests that experienced amateurs may be able to image this object.

Please see the note below.

Any takers prepared to give it a shot?

Space Weather News for Jan. 12, 2010
http://spaceweather.com (http://spaceweather.com/)
CURIOUS ASTEROID FLYBY: A curious object is about to fly past Earth only one-third the distance to the Moon. Catalogued as a 10m-class asteroid, 2010 AL30 has an orbital period of almost exactly 1 year. This raises the possibility that it might not be a natural object, but rather a piece of some spacecraft from our own planet. At closest approach on Jan. 13th, 2010 AL30 will streak through Orion, Taurus, and Pisces glowing like a 14th magnitude star. Experienced amateur astronomers are encouraged to monitor the flyby. Orbital elements, images, and more information are available on http://spaceweather.com (http://spaceweather.com/) .

[Greg Bock]

Also, I forgot to add that I haven't checked the timing of the flyby yet, so I don't know how Australia is placed to see it.

[Dennis]

Here’s what The Sky 6 Pro shows for Tuesday (tonight) 12th January and Wednesday (tomorrow), 13th January 2010.

Cheers

Dennis

[leinad]

Thanks, I'm gonna check this out tonight wherever possible.

[Terry B]

I have taken about 20 mins of images of this tonight. It will be brighter tomorrow.
It moves about 4 arcsecs over a 30 sec exposure giving an obvious trail.
I will process them tomorrow and post them.

[mithrandir]

I could not get The Sky or Cartes du Ciel to put 2010 AL30 anywhere near where the JPL ephemeris said it should be.

And it wasn't showing up on MPC when I know importing values from there works.

Can anyone see what I've stuffed up transcribing Horizons to Cartes?

[ricci]

I have updated the page with new ephemerides.

[Terry B]

Copy the appropriate format for your software from this site
http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/iau/Ephemerides/Unusual/SoftwareUnusual.html

The file will have the asteroid in it labelled 2010 AL30
I used it for skymap last night and it was within a few arcsecs of where it should be.

[Moon]

Not sure if this has already been posted here but Patrick Wiggins on the paramount group captured it really well. Worth a look.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/paramount/message/11595

Direct link: http://users.wirelessbeehive.com/~paw/temp/2010AL30.2.GIF

James

[Dennis]

Thanks for the link James – that is a superb animation. Makes me want a Paramount now! :lol:

Cheers

Dennis