Closest asteroid in recorded history - Page 3

04Stefan07 (Stefan) · #41 10-01-2013, 10:50 AM

Thanks for that Gary!

Nice video Mike!

Matt Starwave (Paul) · #42 10-01-2013, 10:53 AM

Also ESA reports asteroid Apophis also going past, is 55metres larger than NASA recorded --now 325 metres--get that thing out of our solar system for good. Next time round get rid of it.

04Stefan07 (Stefan) · #43 10-01-2013, 11:12 AM

I can't seem to find the asteroid in SkySafari

okiscopey (Mike) · #44 10-01-2013, 12:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 04Stefan07

I can't seem to find the asteroid in SkySafari

In the desktop version, go to 'Solar System' and hit 'Update Minor Body Orbit Data'. In the iOS version, the Update button is in 'Settings' / 'Solar System'

Eggmoon (Geoff) · #45 10-01-2013, 01:15 PM

Closest ever asteroid??? Really?? Maybe you should ask the dinsours how much that big one missed by...

Just teasing....

mithrandir (Andrew) · #46 10-01-2013, 01:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by okiscopey

In the desktop version, go to 'Solar System' and hit 'Update Minor Body Orbit Data'. In the iOS version, the Update button is in 'Settings' / 'Solar System'

IIRC whether you can update minors on demand depends on what version of SS you have. It definitely works in SSPro and both 2012 DA14 and 99942 Apophis are there.

04Stefan07 (Stefan) · #47 10-01-2013, 05:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by okiscopey

In the desktop version, go to 'Solar System' and hit 'Update Minor Body Orbit Data'. In the iOS version, the Update button is in 'Settings' / 'Solar System'

What about Plus on Android?

glenc (Glen) · #48 10-01-2013, 05:53 PM

Mike your video seems to show DA14 going through the pointers.
Is that correct?

"Closest ever asteroid??? Really?? Maybe you should ask the dinsours how much that big one missed by...

"
They were too stunned to record it.

widow18 (Pete) · #49 10-01-2013, 07:22 PM

Closest ever asteroid I remember is one that passed through the upper atmosphere and kept going, sometime in the 60's I think. There is video (super 8 maybe) of it on guess what. Possible search is fireball.
Regards
Peter

okiscopey (Mike) · #50 10-01-2013, 11:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by glenc

Mike your video seems to show DA14 going through the pointers.
Is that correct?

It's only correct if Sky Safari's minor body data are accurate! Maybe someone can check in another planetarium program. Anyway, it's a bit academic ... SS shows the fly-through occuring in daylight around 07:15 AEDT.

glenc (Glen) · #51 11-01-2013, 06:46 AM

The attached file gives RA dec mag and const for Sydney.
Refr http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/horizons.cgi#results

Danack (Dan Ackroyd) · #52 12-01-2013, 11:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by widow18

Closest ever asteroid I remember is one that passed through the upper atmosphere and kept going, sometime in the 60's I think.

I've been looking for that and just found it (or one very similar):

http://youtu.be/vBu-yUzWXqg?t=30s

Apparently it was between only 3 metres and 14 metres in diameter which is surprisingly little to me, given it's resistance to disintegrating.
Great Daylight Fireball 1972

glenc (Glen) · #53 12-01-2013, 04:57 PM

I like the way science corrects itself. Thanks Dan.

Shark Bait (Stu) · #54 12-01-2013, 08:23 PM

I have plugged NASA's JPL data into Starry Night Enthusiast V6.3 in order to work out where to view Asteroid 2012 DA14. It is the first time that I have used this method and it took a while to learn what the various figures mean. I hope the information shown below is correct.

Screen Image Dates and Timings (EST):

1. 14th Feb 2000 hrs
2. 14th Feb 2100 hrs
3. 14th Feb 2200 hrs
4. 14th Feb 2300 hrs
5. 15th Feb 0001 hrs
6. 15th Feb 0100 hrs
7. 15th Feb 0200 hrs
8. 15th Feb 0300 hrs

EDIT: DISREGARD THIS POST.....THE CO-ORDS PUT OUT BY JPL DO NOT MATCH WHAT I HAVE EXTRACTED FROM MY SN DATA INPUT.

Shark Bait (Stu) · #55 12-01-2013, 08:29 PM

Screen Image Dates and Timings (EST):

1. 15th Feb 0400 hrs
2. 15th Feb 0500 hrs
3. 15th Feb 2000 hrs
4. 15th Feb 2100 hrs
5. 15th Feb 2200 hrs
6. 15th Feb 2300 hrs
7. 16th Feb 0001 hrs
8. 16th Feb 0100 hrs

EDIT: DISREGARD THIS POST.....THE CO-ORDS PUT OUT BY JPL DO NOT MATCH WHAT I HAVE EXTRACTED FROM MY SN DATA INPUT.

Shark Bait (Stu) · #56 12-01-2013, 08:33 PM

Screen Image Dates and Timings (EST):

1. 16th Feb 0200 hrs
2. 16th Feb 0300 hrs
3. 16th Feb 0400 hrs
4. 16th Feb 0500 hrs

This will be the last that we will see of Asteroid 2012 DA14 as it becomes an object for the Northern Hemisphere.

EDIT: DISREGARD THIS POST.....THE CO-ORDS PUT OUT BY JPL DO NOT MATCH WHAT I HAVE EXTRACTED FROM MY SN DATA INPUT.

AstroJunk (Jonathan) · #57 12-01-2013, 11:36 PM

This is where I will be looking on the 15th at 8pm (weather permitting). I reckon JPL have a much better chance of knowing its position relative to Brisbane that any commercial planetarium program.

At mag 14.5, it should just becoming possible to see in the video camera.

Make sure you look in the right direction from your site

Shark Bait (Stu) · #58 13-01-2013, 12:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AstroJunk

This is where I will be looking on the 15th at 8pm (weather permitting). I reckon JPL have a much better chance of knowing its position relative to Brisbane that any commercial planetarium program.

At mag 14.5, it should just becoming possible to see in the video camera.

Make sure you look in the right direction from your site

Thanks AstroJunk. I have gone old school and plotted the JPL co-ordinates onto a star chart. It is covering a lot of sky and will be fun to track.

I was attempting to input NASA's JPL data into Starry Night as they have not provided an update which includes 2012 DA14. The information that was extracted from this data is way off the JPL coordinates given for our location. I was being very careful, but I have messed up the data entry somehow.

Even though my attempt at adding a new object into SN failed, I now know a little more about the process than I did before.

AstroJunk (Jonathan) · #59 13-01-2013, 01:32 AM

No, don't beat yourself up Stu - you did it just fine. The issue is that the planetarium software doesn't take the fact that the object is so close into account. If it were a normal asteroid orbiting beyond Mars the plot would have been spot on.

The first time I went on the hunt for a NEO I did exactly the same and found myself searching for the rock over a degree in the wrong direction and saw nothing of course.

The next night I had licked my wounds and found it in a few mins!

Its a real thrill to find these objects and I plan to track this one over a few hours to see if It is a variable or not. If it is irregular in shape and is tumbling, it should vary in brightness over a few minutes and that will give an indication of the nature of the asteroid as only solid rocks can spin quickly. And of course it makes a difference to know if a single rock or a hail storm of smaller rocks is going to hit you

okiscopey (Mike) · #60 13-01-2013, 11:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shark Bait

I was attempting to input NASA's JPL data into Starry Night as they have not provided an update which includes 2012 DA14. The information that was extracted from this data is way off the JPL coordinates given for our location. I was being very careful, but I have messed up the data entry somehow.

Even though my attempt at adding a new object into SN failed, I now know a little more about the process than I did before.

Sounds familiar! I updated the minor body data in SkySafari Plus v1.5 (OS X) and did a YouTube video of this asteroid's progress across the sky. Subsequently found the SSPlus positions 'fictional' compared with the JPL data, presumably due to the 'closeness' factor.

Upgraded to SSPlus v1.7, updated the data and ... lo and behold! ... 2012 DA14 doesn't appear at all in the search list of the new version!

SSPlus is a great program, and the folks at Southern Stars have said they'll fix this known bug very soon, but the moral seems to be: when the going gets tough, plot the JPL data on a paper star chart!