Giant asteroid comes hurtling towards Earth

[American Patriot]

Giant asteroid comes hurtling towards Earth
AN asteroid that may be up to half a mile across is set to hurtle past Earth next week.

The space rock, called 2004 XP14, will pass "exceptionally close" to the planet in what is seen as a near miss in astronomical terms - 268,624 miles away at its closest moment early on Monday.

That is just 1.1 times the Moon's average distance from Earth.

Astronomers will try to get a more accurate assessment of the size of the asteroid by "pinging" it with radar.

It was discovered in December 2004 by the Lincoln Laboratory Near Earth Asteroid Research (Linear).

Initially there were concerns that it could hit Earth later in the century, but further studies have since ruled out such a collision.

However, it has still been classified as a Potentially Hazardous Asteroid (PHA) by the Minor Planet Centre in Cambridge, Massachusetts, because of the proximity of its orbit to Earth and its estimated size.

There are currently 783 PHAs, and Nasa has begun a study into what can be done to deflect any asteroids or comets that are on course to hit us.

Web links

European Space Agency
http://www.esa.int/export/esaCP/index.html
NASA
http://www.nasa.gov
China National Space Administration
http://202.106.142.5/main_e.asp
British Astronomical Association
http://www.britastro.org
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[American Patriot]

Asteroid set to shave Earth
Email Print Normal font Large font Richard Macey
June 30, 2006

Three nights of skywatching by an Australian astronomer have confirmed predictions that an asteroid almost half-a-kilometre wide will miss the Earth on Monday by 430,000 kilometres.

However, it would still be "one of the largest objects to be observed to pass this close to the earth", said Rob McNaught, an astronomer at Siding Spring, near Coonabarabran.

If the predictions had been wrong, and the asteroid, dubbed 2004 XP14, hit the Earth, "you would be talking about very serious consequences", he said. The astronomer and his colleague, Gordon Garradd, run the southern hemisphere's only search for asteroids that pose a threat to life on earth.

Funded by NASA, and involving the University of Arizona and the Australian National University, the study uses a telescope that snaps four pictures of the same area of the sky every hour. A computer then sifts through the images looking for objects that have changed position.

Mr McNaught spent Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday nights tracking XP14, confirming the asteroid, discovered in 2004, had no chance of sparking a bad day for Earth any time this century.

American radio astronomers will use Mr McNaught's observations to refine their plans to bounce radar signals off the asteroid next week to determine its exact size and composition. So little is known of the tiny world that astronomers estimate it is probably about 400 metres wide, but could be twice that size.

The astronomer at Sydney Observatory, Nick Lomb, said XP14 would make its closest approach at 2pm, on Monday.

Dr Lomb said that if the asteroid struck "it could cause major damage over a whole continent".

The search by Mr McNaught and Mr Garradd had discovered at least 113 asteroids and more than 20 comets, but none that posed a threat to Earth.

[American Patriot]

NewsTrack
Huge asteroid hurtles toward Earth
WASHINGTON, June 29 (UPI) -- An asteroid that's about one-half-mile wide is hurtling toward Earth, expected to narrowly miss the planet early Monday.

Astronomers say the space rock, called 2004 XP14, will pass "exceptionally close" to Earth in astronomical terms -- 268,624 miles away at its closest approach, The Scotsman reported. That's a little more than the moon's average distance from Earth.

The asteroid, discovered in December 2004, at first produced concerns that it could hit Earth later in the century but subsequent studies ruled out such a collision.

However, 2004 XP14 has been classified as a Potentially Hazardous Asteroid, or PHA, by the Minor Planet Center in Cambridge, Mass., because of the proximity of its orbit to Earth and its estimated size, The Scotsman said.

Astronomers have a list of 783 PHAs.

[American Patriot]

Giant asteroid to kiss Earth's orbit early on Monday
Posted on : Thu, 29 Jun 2006 19:06:00 GMT | Author : Mike Burns
News Category : Space


A 500-meter wide asteroid is all set to intersect with Earth's orbit in the early hours of July 3, just 268,624 miles away from the planet. Named as 2004XP14, this Apollo class asteroid will pass over the sky at a distance, which is nearly equal to the average distance of Moon from Earth.

Discovered in December 2004 by Lincoln Laboratory Near Earth Asteroid Research, it was assumed that this asteroid would hit the planet after a few years but further research has ruled out the scenario though it is being classified as the 783rd Potentially Hazardous Asteroid (PHA).



Astronomers with some experience will be able to get a sneak peek at the asteroid as it keeps its date with Earth Sunday evening. But they would need a telescope though. As for the exact time and direction, space.com says, "The latest calculations show that 2004 XP14 will pass closest to Earth at 04:25 UT on July 3 (12:25 a.m. EDT or 9:25 p.m. PDT on July 2). The asteroid's distance from Earth at that moment will be 268,624-miles (432,308 km), or just 1.1 times the Moon's average distance from Earth"

As for astronomers and scientists, they plan to use NASA's Goldstone radar to measure asteroid's mass and its density. The latter is a key indicator of the composition and internal structure of the asteroid.

[American Patriot]

National
04/07/2006
Asteroid hit in 100 years

ASTEROID 2004 XP14 may be almost half a million kilometres away, but an Australian astronomer says there is a chance it could one day collide with Earth.

But he says the planet is safe for at least another century.

“This asteroid could potentially one day collide with Earth,” said Rob McNaught, who is one of only two astronomers in the southern hemisphere carrying out systematic surveys on comets and asteroids.

“The orbit of the asteroid and the orbit of the Earth form a crossroad, so there’s a point in space where the two orbits intersect but certainly within the next 100 years there’s no possibility of it colliding with Earth.”

Mr McNaught is part of the Spaceguard program, which uses a telescope belonging to the Australian National University through NASA funding.

In recent days, he has been monitoring the asteroid from his base at Siding Springs, at Coonabarabran, in northwestern NSW.

Mr McNaught said that because the asteroid, discovered in December, 2004, was sufficiently close to the Earth, a radio telescope could bounce a radar beam off the object and this presented a wealth of information for astronomers.

“You can use radar to find out exactly how far away the asteroid is and also what its exact speed is,” Mr McNaught said.