Mystery object to whiz by Earth

[glenc]

http://www.smh.com.au/technology/sci-tech/mystery-object-to-whiz-by-earth-20100113-m50f.html
Image from Grove Creek Observatory
It is 10 to 15 metres wide at most.
NASA says that it will streak by Earth today at 11.47pm (AEDT), missing the planet by about 128,750 kilometres.

[bartman]

AND there telling us NOW?
Less than a day......

[Jabba]

haha wow thats pretty close in space terms...
Will it be easily visible?

[Dennis]

I managed to record a couple of frames with a fleeting 2010 AL30 (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=55242)in there, last night (Tues) before the clouds moved in. Clear skies permitting, it should also be visible tonight - Wed 13th Jan.

Good luck!

Cheers

Dennis

[Terry B]

I took 45 x 30 sec exposures of it last night and have made it into an animation. It is here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6dmqaKkoTM

It starts about 1/2 way up the frame on the left and moves to the right and up. It is dim on this video due to the youtube compression.
The original is here
http://users.northnet.com.au/~bohlsen/Astronomy/Movie_0001.wmv

[danielsun]

Excellent work Terry!!:thumbsup: also captured a ripper satellite or meteor streak at the beginning there.

Cheers Daniel.

[PCH]

Awesome stuff Terry.

Can anyone suggest which direction we in Perth should be looking this evening, - and at what time?

Cheers :thumbsup:

[Jabba]

nice video edit!

[mithrandir]

If you have Carte du Ciel (free) or something like The Sky, download the latest "Unusuals" from the MPC and it will plot it for you.

If my calculations are right, at around 23:00 your time it should be close to:
RA 02h07m02s Dec +13d12'08"
Az 320d54'58 Alt: 35d34'37"

[StarGazing]

Its just started to cloud over here in Melbourne :(:(.

Thanks for the info Glen.

Alex. :thumbsup:

[Tamtarn]

Thanks for the heads up Glen any idea of what estimated time in Melbourne and is it visible through Binos ??

[RobF]

Impressive work Terry!

[glenc]

Did anyone catch it last night? I think it was about mag 14. It was cloudy here.

[Rainingstar]

Thanks Terry,
That was amazing.

[goober]

Nice... I wonder if that was the missing Saturn V booster coming back for a visit :)

[mithrandir]

We have seen stars here. The last time there was anything below about mag 2 was about a week ago. They can burn through the lighter clouds.

[DiamondDust]

Love your work Terry. We had great skies here last night, with a number of spectacular meteors before 2300hrs. I did see something through the scope in the Northern sky around 10pm below the eliptical. Looked like space junk falling back to earth. No! I didn't have a G&T :drink:til after 2330hrs!! Nobody's reported a plane going down into the ocean so I suppose I was star struck!:stargaze: