[meteorite-list] Near-Earth Asteroid 2012 DA14 to Miss Earth on February 15, 2013

[Ron Baalke]

http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news174.html      

Near-Earth Asteroid 2012 DA14 to Miss Earth on February 15, 2013
Paul Chodas, Jon Giorgini & Don Yeomans
NASA/JPL Near-Earth Object Program Office
March 6, 2012

[Diagram]
In this oblique view, the path of near-Earth asteroid 2012 DA14 is seen
passing close to Earth on Feb. 15, 2013.

Discovered by the LaSagra observatory in southern Spain, the small
asteroid 2012 DA14 will pass within about 3.5 Earth radii of the Earth's
surface on February 15, 2013. Although its size is not well determined,
this near-Earth asteroid is thought to be about 45 meters in diameter.
Asteroid 2012 DA14 will pass inside the geosynchronous satellite ring,
located about 35,800 km above the equator. Its orbit about the sun can
bring it no closer to the Earth's surface than 3.2 Earth radii on
February 15, 2013. On this date, the asteroid will travel rapidly from
the southern evening sky into the northern morning sky with its closest
Earth approach occurring about 19:26 UTC when it will achieve a
magnitude of less than seven, which is somewhat fainter than naked eye
visibility. About 4 minutes after its Earth close approach, there is a
good chance it will pass into the Earth's shadow for about 18 minutes or
so before reappearing from the eclipse. When traveling rapidly into the
northern morning sky, 2012 DA14 will quickly fade in brightness.