[meteorite-list] Asteroid 2013 TV135 - A Reality Check

[Ron Baalke]

http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news180.html

Asteroid 2013 TV135 - A Reality Check
NASA/JPL Near-Earth Object Program Office
October 18, 2013

Newly discovered asteroid 2013 TV135 made a close approach to Earth on 
Sept. 16 when it came within about 4.2 million miles (6.7 million kilometers). 
The asteroid is initially estimated to be about 1,300 feet (400 meters) 
in size and its orbit carries it as far out as about three quarters of 
the distance to Jupiter's orbit and as close to the sun as the Earth's 
orbit. It was discovered on Oct. 8, 2013, by astronomers working at the 
Crimean Astrophysical Observatory in the Ukraine.  As of Oct. 14, asteroid 
2013 TV135 is one of 10,332 Near-Earth objects that have been discovered

With only a week of observations for an orbital period that spans almost 
4 years its future orbital path is still quite uncertain, but this asteroid 
could be back in the Earth's neighborhood in 2032.  However, the Near-Earth 
Object Program Office states the probability this asteroid could then 
impact Earth is only 1-in 63,000.  The object should be easily observable 
in the coming months and once additional observations are provided to 
the Minor Planet Center in Cambridge Massachusetts, the initial orbit 
calculations will be improved and the most likely result will be a dramatic 
reduction, or complete elimination, of any risk of Earth impact.  

"To put it another way, that puts the current probability of no impact 
in 2032 at about 99.998 percent," said Don Yeomans, manager of NASA's 
Near-Earth Object Program Office at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, 
Calif. "This is a relatively new discovery. With more observations, I 
fully expect we will be able to significantly reduce, or rule out entirely, 
any impact probability for the foreseeable future." 

NASA detects, tracks and characterizes asteroids and comets passing close 
to Earth using both ground- and space-based telescopes. The Near-Earth 
Object Observations Program, commonly called "Spaceguard," discovers these 
objects, characterizes a subset of them, and determines their orbits to 
determine if any could be potentially hazardous to our planet. 

JPL manages the Near-Earth Object Program Office for NASA's Science Mission 
Directorate in Washington. JPL is a division of the California Institute 
of Technology in Pasadena.

More information about asteroids and near-Earth objects is available at: 
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/asteroidwatch  
and
http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov .