Robby
01-30-2008, 03:43 PM
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0801/tu24_greenbank.jpg (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0801/tu24_greenbank_big.jpg)
Asteroid 2007 TU24 Passes the Earth
Credit: Green Bank Radio Telescope (http://www.gb.nrao.edu/gbt/), Arecibo Radio Telescope (http://www.naic.edu/public/descrip_eng.htm)
Explanation: Asteroid 2007 TU24 passed by the Earth yesterday, posing no danger. The space rock, estimated (http://www.nasa.gov/topics/solarsystem/features/asteroid-20080125.html) to be about 250 meters across, coasted by just outside the orbit of Earth's Moon. The passing was not very unusual (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap050417.html) -- small rocks strike Earth daily, and in 2003 a rock the size of a bus passed inside the orbit of the Moon, being detected only after passing (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap031015.html). TU24 was notable partly because it was so large. Were TU24 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TU24) to have struck land, it might have caused a magnitude (http://www.geo.mtu.edu/UPSeis/magnitude.html) seven earthquake (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19fMs633Td4) and left a city-sized crater (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap990711.html). A perhaps larger danger would have occurred were TU24 (http://www.planetary.org/blog/article/00001309/) to have struck the ocean and raised a large tsunami (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsunami). This radar image (http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2008-014) was taken two days ago. The Arecibo Radio Telescope (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap981129.html) in Puerto Rico (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puerto_Rico) broadcast radar that was reflected by the asteroid and then recorded by the Byrd Radio Telescope (http://www.gb.nrao.edu/gbt/) in Green Bank (http://www.nrao.edu/administration/personnel_office/greenbank.shtml), West Virginia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Virginia). The resulting image (http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2008-014) shows TU24 to have an oblong and irregular shape. TU24 (http://www.nasa.gov/topics/solarsystem/features/asteroid-20080128-clips.html) was discovered only three months ago, indicating that other potentially hazardous asteroids (http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/ca/) might lurk in our Solar System (http://space.jpl.nasa.gov/) currently undetected. Objects like TU24 (http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/080128-asteroid-radar.html) are hard to detect because they are so faint and move (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060328.html) so fast. Humanity's ability to scan the sky to detect, catalog, and analyze such objects has increased notably (http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/css/) in recent years.
(Via NASA) (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap080130.html)
Asteroid 2007 TU24 Passes the Earth
Credit: Green Bank Radio Telescope (http://www.gb.nrao.edu/gbt/), Arecibo Radio Telescope (http://www.naic.edu/public/descrip_eng.htm)
Explanation: Asteroid 2007 TU24 passed by the Earth yesterday, posing no danger. The space rock, estimated (http://www.nasa.gov/topics/solarsystem/features/asteroid-20080125.html) to be about 250 meters across, coasted by just outside the orbit of Earth's Moon. The passing was not very unusual (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap050417.html) -- small rocks strike Earth daily, and in 2003 a rock the size of a bus passed inside the orbit of the Moon, being detected only after passing (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap031015.html). TU24 was notable partly because it was so large. Were TU24 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TU24) to have struck land, it might have caused a magnitude (http://www.geo.mtu.edu/UPSeis/magnitude.html) seven earthquake (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19fMs633Td4) and left a city-sized crater (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap990711.html). A perhaps larger danger would have occurred were TU24 (http://www.planetary.org/blog/article/00001309/) to have struck the ocean and raised a large tsunami (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsunami). This radar image (http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2008-014) was taken two days ago. The Arecibo Radio Telescope (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap981129.html) in Puerto Rico (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puerto_Rico) broadcast radar that was reflected by the asteroid and then recorded by the Byrd Radio Telescope (http://www.gb.nrao.edu/gbt/) in Green Bank (http://www.nrao.edu/administration/personnel_office/greenbank.shtml), West Virginia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Virginia). The resulting image (http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2008-014) shows TU24 to have an oblong and irregular shape. TU24 (http://www.nasa.gov/topics/solarsystem/features/asteroid-20080128-clips.html) was discovered only three months ago, indicating that other potentially hazardous asteroids (http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/ca/) might lurk in our Solar System (http://space.jpl.nasa.gov/) currently undetected. Objects like TU24 (http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/080128-asteroid-radar.html) are hard to detect because they are so faint and move (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060328.html) so fast. Humanity's ability to scan the sky to detect, catalog, and analyze such objects has increased notably (http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/css/) in recent years.
(Via NASA) (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap080130.html)