Asteroid Apophos

mbyrr (Antony) · #1 08-01-2013, 11:32 PM

Hey folks, long time no anything...

I just read in the news that Asteroid Apophos will be passing by on Thursday night. Will it be possible to be seen with a scope?

The 390m lump of space rock will be close enough to be seen in the night sky after it has passed its closest point at 14.5 million kilometres later this week.

Potential awesomeness here!

doppler (Rick) · #2 08-01-2013, 11:46 PM

That would be one good pic if someone could do it.

mbyrr (Antony) · #3 08-01-2013, 11:54 PM

I'm not sure what they mean by "close enough to be seen in the night sky": does it mean with your naked eye, a scope/binocs, or by observatories?

MikeyB (Michael) · #4 09-01-2013, 12:29 AM

See prior post here: Closest asteroid in recorded history

OzEclipse (Joe Cali) · #5 09-01-2013, 12:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mbyrr

I'm not sure what they mean by "close enough to be seen in the night sky": does it mean with your naked eye, a scope/binocs, or by observatories?

Magnitude 16. Barely visible in a 16 inch reflector maybe in a 20 inch.

Joe

pluto (Hugh) · #6 09-01-2013, 09:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MikeyB

See prior post here: Closest asteroid in recorded history

That thread is about 2012 DA14 not 99942 Apophis.

From what I read Apophis will be apparent magnitude 15.7 on 9/1/2013 so I guess some here will be able to image it...?

EDIT: sorry Joe didn't see your response before posting :-)