Title | Asteroid 2012 TC4 Will Pass Close to Earth on October 12th | |
Date | Saturday August 12 2017, @05:46PM | |
Author | Fnord666 | |
Topic | ||
from the duck-just-in-case dept. |
2012 TC4 will pass Earth well within the Moon's orbit a month from now, but not nearly as close as previously estimated:
Mark your calendar for Oct. 12. That's when asteroid 2012 TC4 will slip past Earth at an expected distance of around 27,300 miles (44,000 kilometers). The European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope in Chile recently caught sight of the asteroid, which could be up to 100 feet (30 meters) in size.
NASA is leading a coordinated international campaign to observe TC4. In July, NASA suggested the asteroid could squeeze in as close as 4,200 miles (6,800 kilometers), but the European Space Agency's latest estimates give us more breathing room.
Geostationary equatorial orbit (GEO) is at about 35,786 km above mean sea level.
Also at Phys.org (AFP).
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printed from SoylentNews, Asteroid 2012 TC4 Will Pass Close to Earth on October 12th on 2024-04-24 23:54:49