Got your attention, huh? Sure got mine. It should be available for naked eyeballing tonight. If the sky's clear. (Based on current conditions and the latest forecast, I think that leaves me out.)
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| Keeping track of things. |
The thing is described as "small." Lord luv a duck! How big is "Big!" The NASA Asteroid Watch folks are watching 2012 TC4 (everything in space is numbered or named) closely and tell us "Do Not Worry." I like NASA. I trust NASA.
"...will safely pass Earth Oct 12 at just .25 the distance to our moon's orbit," scientists with NASA's Asteroid Watch program wrote in a Twitter update this week. On average, the moon's orbit is about 238,000 miles."
"The asteroid is large enough to be seen by backyard astronomers using a small telescope, the night sky events website Spaceweather.com has reported."
The nice space.com folks have a neat video they made a few days ago, of the little boogger boogety-boogetyin' along. (Note: You may have to sit through a short commercial. Sorry. Worth the wait though.)
If you're interested in keeping up with meteor and meteorite news, I highly recommend this website for enlightenment. You'll also find "Earthquake News, Fireballs, Bolides, Comets, Asteroid Impact, Meteorite Quest, Recent Meteorite Falls & Related News."
And, since you're evidently still with me (How do I know? You're reading, aren't you? duh) As I was clicking around, gathering information for you (just part of the service), I ran across a couple of geeky, spacey sites. I'm not offering descriptions. If you like this stuff you'll click and learn.
- Orbiter Space News
- NASA's JPL Asteroid Watch
Just hope the Myan's were wrong and the earths gravitational pull doesn't pull into us. Just saying as a run to find a deap cave somewhere.
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