August
17, 2002
By BOB ARNDORFER
Sun staff writer
"Deep Impact" it's
not.
"Armageddon?" No
chance.
Compared to movies
about doomsday asteroids on collision courses with Earth, tonight's
asteroid fly-by will be about as exciting as its name: 2002 NY40.
But although it
can't be seen with the naked eye, it is a rare celestial event that
has some amateur and professional astronomers hoping for clear skies
tonight.
"This asteroid
is on a course to travel just outside the orbit of the moon," said Ken
Brandt of Gainesville, a solar system "ambassador" in the public outreach
program of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. "It's right in the back
yard."
But unless you
have high-power binoculars or a good telescope, you won't see it from
your back yard. So the Alachua Astronomy Club has arranged with the
University of Florida Teaching Observatory for the public to get a peek
of 2002 NY40 on its leisurely fly-by - which will be visible for a few
hours starting about 8:30 p.m.
Brandt said the
relatively small asteroid - a potato-shaped chunk about a quarter-mile
wide, the equivalent of about three city blocks - will pass about 330,000
miles from Earth. The moon is about 230,000 miles distant.
"It'll be like
a little dot crossing the field of view with the stars in the background,"
said Brandt, who teaches Earth and space sciences at Buchholz High School
and is a member of the Alachua Astronomy Club. "While it may not be
terrifically Earth-shattering like a meteor or comet, it still is significant."
He said scientists
hope to conduct tests of the asteroid as it passes by to determine what
it's made of. It could be rocky material like the crust of the Earth,
he said, or metallic material like Earth's core.
Astronomers also
hope to learn something about where the asteroid originated.
"Nobody knows where
it came from," Brandt said. "It could be part of an ancient planet that
blew up. Its estimated age is about 4 billion years."
Michael Toomey,
president of the Alachua Astronomy Club, said it may be another 50 years
before an event like this occurs again.
"This is the sort
of sighting that is intriguing to astronomers," Toomey said. "As defined
by the astronomical community, it's a 'very near miss.' "
While a more-dramatic
meteor might be visible for one or two seconds, he said, this asteroid
"will be pretty much an all-night display." He said it will travel at
about 45 miles per second, which is rather pokey on the celestial highway.
Looking like a
tiny satellite passing through a sky of stationary stars, the asteroid
will travel generally overhead from the southeast to northwest. Toomey
said as it goes through the Milky Way, there will be a lot of background
with which to gauge its movement.
Members of the
club will be on hand at the observatory to help people track the asteroid.
Some also may have their own telescopes for additional viewing, Toomey
said.
He said if the
asteroid did hit Earth, it would level a medium-size city. But, he and
Brandt emphasized, there is zero chance of 2002 NY40 colliding with
Earth.
"There is no danger
here," Brandt said. "Don't go out and sell all your stock."
Just the facts
