Meteorite fall and the close fly-by of Asteroid DA14 - A coincidence?

Visit the following links to read reports of a meteorite fall in Russia on 15 Feb 2013, the same day that Asteroid DA14 will make a clos fly-by.  Are they connected?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2279020/Russian-meteorite-Moment-meteorite-exploded-doctors-treat-500-people-injured.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-21468116

The BBC report (the second link above) quotes Prof Alan Fitzsimmons, of the Astrophysics Research Centre at Queen's University Belfast, as saying that the flyby and the meteorite fall are unlikely to be connected. DA14 is expected to approach us from the South, while the meteorite that hit Russia has hit the Northern Hemisphere of the earth.

Another interesting source of information is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hill_sphere

This one talks about the fact that an astronaut cannot be in stable orbit around the Space Shuttle – the earth will disturb his orbit and he could end up orbiting the earth instead of orbiting the shuttle. Such considerations are relevant to visualizing material loosely attached to an asteroid doing a close flyby hitting the earth’s atmosphere.  

Srinivasan Ramani

Pushing an asteroid off its course a little bit to avoid a collision!

In one of my earlier posts I had referred to the idea of painting an asteroid white so that solar radiation would gently push it away from the sun. My main objection to that is - it would require pretty long notice. The technique cannot change the asteroid's orbit fast enough. Asteroid 2012_DA14 was discovered less than 12 months before its nearest approach. There was no time for the paint job to work!

So, what are the other options? Visit http://news.discovery.com/space/asteroids-meteors-meteorites/top-10-asteroid-deflection-130130.htm for some light reading about ten methods including the paint job. The most attractive one seems to be to hit the asteroid gently with a rocket weighing say 10 tons and hoping that the asteroid does not break up into pieces. The probability that it does break up into big enough pieces threatening the earth could be low. In that case, we would just  need to use another ten-ton rocket! Perhaps a few!  This might be a lot more practical than solutions like shining a mirror at the asteroid!

We hear on and off about big powers destroying some of their own missiles as one  step towards disarmament. Perhaps, they can modify and set apart a hundred such missiles each to fight common enemies of humanity, in the form of asteroids on possible collision courses with the earth. Such, missiles are available at practically no cost to major powers.

One good thing! The horrible, original, payload fitted to these missiles would not be needed for their new mission.  

Srinivasan Ramani

Plans for visual observation of Asteroid 2012 DA14

Well! I decided to look up details to get more information to help me do visual observation of the Asteroid DA14's flyby the coming Friday night - Saturday morning. Midnight of Feb 15, 2013 to 5 AM of Feb 16, 2013 is the best time, if you wish to see it reasonably well above the horizon, for locations near Bangalore.  Hindu Business Line gave me some hope of a memorable spectacle, saying
‘Close’ asteroid may miss Earth, but could hit telecom satellites
I know that telecom satellites cost a lot of money, but I don't mind if the asteroid hits an old satellite nearing the end of its design life on its way-in! Interestingly, telecom satellites need fuel to stay at their allocated sites in geosynchronous orbit. So, in something like seven years, most satellites would have exhausted their fuel. One of them might as well give me my spectacle! If it is hit as the asteroid is coming in, the debris from the collision would have a chance of hitting the earth's atmosphere to give us fireworks.

With renewed hope, I did a web search to get myself a sky map showing the line representing the expected path of the asteroid against the backdrop of constellations and stars. One very useful website turned out to be

http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2013/02/11/asteroid_2012_da14_space_rock_will_miss_the_earth_by_17_000_miles.html

It gave me useful information, and pointed me to the site
http://www.heavens-above.com/

Text under the heading "configuration" on the page mentioned allowed me to enter details of my location, Bangalore, (Latitude 12.98,  Longitude 77.78 and Altitude 920 Meters. You can get your own coordinates: google for latitude longitude YOURCITY). After I entered my location details, it needed just one more click to ask for the map, and I got the following map showing exactly what I wanted.

http://www.heavens-above.com/2012da14.aspx?lat=13&lng=77.6&loc=Bangalore&alt=900&tz=UCTm6

It seems that you will get about 4.5 hours to see it (00:30 Hours to 05:00 Hours) if you are within 300 miles of Bangalore. However, the asteroid could appear pretty dim after 3 AM, since the point of nearest approach is at about 1 AM, Saturday's early morning.

Best of luck. Just make sure that you get to a place with very few artificial lights around. Carry a pair of good binoculars, along with a torch! Carry a sheet to spread on the ground. You would need to be flat on your back if you are not going to sprain your neck! Best wishes for a good sighting. You are unlikely to see DA14 again! Earth's gravity is modifying the asteroid's orbit pretty seriously!

Srinivasan Ramani  

A Madrasi discovers a Minor Planet!

One of the things I miss most in Bangalore is a clear sky! Light pollution has taken away the sky I thought was my inalienable right! So, I was jealous of the guy in Chennai who discovered what he called a minor planet in his publication. The Madras Observatory from where he discovered this astronomical object is within walking distance of the house I grew up in – it is in Nungambakkam!

Let me now confess a few liberties I have taken with the truth! The incident did not take place Chennai, but in what was then propahly called Madras! I should have said “discovered” rather than “discovers” in my title! Lastly, my Madrasi who lived thirty years in Madras and died in the same city would be called an Englishman by some chauvinists! My hero is Mr N. R. Pogson (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N._R._Pogson ). He discovered eight asteroids and six variable stars.

I got to know of him today, when I did a web search to see if there are cases of asteroids known which have their own satellites! Sure there are! This makes me hope secretly that 2012_DA14 which is going to whizz by on the night of Feb 15, 2013 will have a few satellites too! See my post http://newstudentresearch.blogspot.in/2013/02/visit-of-asteroid-2012da14-any-chance.html wondering if stuff accompanying DA14 could enter the atmosphere and give us a great fire-works display.

Mr Pogson reported the discovery of what he called a minor planet that he named Sylvia, in 1866! Refer
Pogson, N. R. (1866), Minor Planet (87) Sylvia, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 26, p. 311 (June 1866).

Is Sylvia a minor planet or a mere asteroid? I will let you search for and find the answer. Suffice it to say that it is about 286 KM in “diameter”. What attracted my attention was the fact much later, other observers discovered that Sylvia had two moons – which were named Romulus and Remus. The babies are not puny either – each one has a mass of about 10 to the power of 12 tons! The big brother Romulus goes as far as 1356 Km from its parent during its orbit.

Now tell me! Is there a chance we will see some fireworks when DA14 does a fly -past?  

Srinivasan Ramani