* Astronomy

Blobrana · L

RE: Asteroid 2007 TU24

Blobrana · L

Scientists are monitoring the orbit of asteroid 2007 TU24. The asteroid, believed to be between 150 meters (500 feet) and 610 meters (2,000 feet) in size, is expected to fly past Earth on Jan. 29, with its closest distance being about 537,500 kilometers (334,000 miles) at 12:33 a.m. Pacific time (3:33 a.m. Eastern time). It should be observable that night by amateur astronomers with modest-sized telescopes.

illustration shows the asteroid's track on the sky for 3 days near the time of the close Earth approach as seen from the city of Philadelphia

illustration shows the asteroid's track on the sky for 3 days near the time of the close Earth approach as seen from the city of Philadelphia

The illustration from an amateur astronomer shows the asteroid's track on the sky for 3 days near the time of the close Earth approach as seen from the city of Philadelphia.
Credit: Dr. Dale Ireland, Silverdale, WA.

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Blobrana · L

Astronomers will get a chance to get a close look at an asteroid, referred to as 2007 TU24, which will approach Earth to within 334,000 miles on January 29, 2008.

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Blobrana · L

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Asteroid 2007 TU24.kmz
Google Sky file (4kb, kmz)

Blobrana · L

Asteroid 2007 TU24, discovered by the Catalina Sky Survey on October 11, 2007 will closely approach the Earth to within 1.4 lunar distances (334,000 miles) on 2008 Jan. 29 08:33 UT. This object, between 150 and 600 meters in diameter, will reach an approximate apparent magnitude 10.3 on Jan. 29-30 before quickly becoming fainter as it moves further from Earth. For a brief time the asteroid will be observable in dark and clear skies with amateur telescopes of 3 inch apertures or larger.

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Blobrana · L

2007 TU24 was discovered by the Catalina Sky Survey (Arizona) on October 11, 2007. This object's 1.4-lunar-distance approach on Jan. 29 is the closest for any known Potentially Hazardous Asteroid until 2027. At this writing, the object's orbit is too uncertain to identify post-2008 close Earth approaches, but radar astrometry probably may allow prediction of any close approaches centuries into the future.
Apart from its absolute visual magnitude (H = 20.1, implying a diameter ~0.3 km if it has a typical S-class albedo), nothing is known about TU24's physical properties, but the expected echo signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) almost certainly will suffice for high-resolution using Arecibo or Goldstone.
Goldstone observations are scheduled on January 23 and Arecibo observations are scheduled on January 27-28 and February 1-4.

Orbital and Physical Characteristics
orbit type               Apollo
semimajor axis           2.010 AU
eccentricity             0.529
inclination              5.8°
perihelion distance      0.947 AU
aphelion distance        3.073 AU
absolute magnitude (H) 20.1
diameter                 300 meters +- a factor of two
rotation period          unknown
pole direction           unknown
lightcurve amplitude     unknown
spectral class           unknown

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Blobrana · L

On Jan. 29, 2008, a 405m-wide asteroid, 2007 TU24, will make a close flyby (384401 km, 1.4 lunar distances) of the Earth. The asteroid will appear as a magnitude 10.4 star in the constellation Cassiopeia.

Ephemeris
Date    TT    R. A. (2000) Dec.     Delta      r     Elong.  Phase     V
2007 12 16    23 54.26   -24 47.6    0.220    0.990    85.2    82.0    19.7
2007 12 21    23 57.44   -24 28.5    0.199    0.974    81.3    87.1    19.6
2007 12 26    00 01.04   -24 06.5    0.176    0.961    77.4    92.2    19.5
2007 12 31    00 04.84   -23 41.7    0.153    0.952    73.7    97.4    19.4
2008 01 05    00 08.66   -23 12.9    0.128    0.947    70.0   102.7    19.3
2008 01 10    00 12.43   -22 37.1    0.102    0.947    66.3   108.0    19.1
2008 01 15    00 16.18   -21 46.3    0.0761   0.951    62.7   113.2    18.8
2008 01 20    00 20.34   -20 14.4    0.0498   0.959    59.4   118.1    18.2
2008 01 25    00 27.97   -15 33.2    0.0234   0.972    57.5   121.4    16.8
2008 01 30    09 58.53   +65 19.0    0.00505  0.988   131.1    48.7    10.4
2008 02 04    12 05.95   +30 01.6    0.0302   1.008   137.2    41.7    14.1
2008 02 09    12 09.35   +26 52.4    0.0568   1.031   140.6    37.4    15.4
2008 02 14    12 08.71   +25 39.5    0.0838   1.057   144.6    32.7    16.2