Asteroid to Make Close Pass by Earth on Monday

Newly discovered asteroid will zip by only 7,500 miles above the planet?s surface or roughly the same distance as Dacula to Afghanistan.

This diagram gives a view from the general direction of the Sun that indicates that 2011 MD will reach its closest Earth approach point in extreme southern latitudes.
The diagram shows the trajectory of 2011 MD projected onto the Earth's orbital plane over a four-day interval.
Add your photos & videos
Tell Your Neighbors About Patch

A team tasked with monitoring the skies for near-Earth objects (NEOs) that threaten the planet has discovered an asteroid that will pass only 7,500 miles above the Earth?s surface on June 27 -- a distance roughly the same as between Gwinnett County and Afghanistan.

The asteroid, named 2011 MD, was discovered by the Lincoln Near Earth Asteroid Research (LINEAR) project, a program funded by the United States Air Force and NASA.

A statement posted June 23 on NASA?s Near Earth Object Program website indicates the newly discovered asteroid will make its closest approach to Earth in the southern hemisphere over the southern Atlantic Ocean. In those areas, the asteroid should be bright enough to be seen with a ?modest-sized telescope," officials said.

According to the website, ?This small asteroid, only 5-20 meters in diameter, is in a very Earth-like orbit about the Sun, but an orbital analysis indicates there is no chance it will actually strike Earth on Monday.?

Though the asteroid is not expected to strike the Earth, the outgoing leg of the asteroid?s trajectory will pass ?well inside? the planet?s geosynchronous ring of satellites which is approximately 22,000 miles above Earth?s surface. The Moon, by comparison, orbits the Earth at an average distance of 238,854 miles away.

The statement on the NASA?s Near Earth Object Program website advises an object of this size will come this close to Earth every six years on average.

The purpose of the NASA Near Earth Object Program is to identify and track potentially hazardous asteroids and comets. The program is also responsible for alerting the public if any potentially hazardous NEOs are discovered.

As of June 22, 2011, the NASA Near Earth Object Program has discovered more than 8,100 near-Earth objects. Of those, 1,236 have been classified as potentially hazardous asteroids.

Asteroid on path to pass close to Earth

Saturday, June 25, 2011
By Thomas J. Morgan
Journal Staff Writer

A visitor from outer space is expected to whiz past Earth Monday morning in a close pass.

According to NASA?s Near Earth Object Program, asteroid 2011 MD, measuring 5 to 20 yards, or the size of a house, will come close enough ? 7,500 miles ? to observe with a small telescope. By comparison, the moon is approximately 250,000 miles away.

There won?t be any chance of spotting it from Rhode Island, however. The asteroid?s path is expected to take it over the South Atlantic Ocean, near the coast of Antarctica, at 1 p.m. Eastern time, according to Sky and Telescope Magazine.

NASA said an analysis of the 2011 MD?s orbit shows there is no chance of it striking Earth.

There is an extremely slight chance, however, NASA said, that it could collide with one of the many satellites orbiting Earth. The celestial visitor?s incoming trajectory will carry it clear of the geosynchronous zone ? the area where weather and other satellites ?park? so as to hover in an apparently stationary stance over a chosen area of the Earth?s surface. But the planet?s gravity is expected to bend the asteroid?s path profoundly, whipping it into a curve so that it will slingshot right through the geosynchronous ring.

NASA said objects of this size pass Earth at this distance about every six years.

2011 MD was discovered only on Wednesday, according to Skymania News and Guide, by LINEAR, a robotic telescope pair in New Mexico that seeks out such near-Earth objects.

Skymania quoted Emily Baldwin, of the magazine Astronomy Now, as saying, ?We are certain that it will miss us, but if it did enter the atmosphere, an asteroid this size would mostly burn up in a brilliant fireball, possibly scattering a few meteorites.?

On Nov. 8, Skymania reported, asteroid 2005 YU55, which is 400 yards across and tips the scale at 50 million tons, will fly inside the orbit of the moon.

=================

Giant asteroid to 'narrowly miss' Earth

A newly discovered asteroid the size of an office block will narrowly miss the Earth on Monday - coming 23 times closer than the moon.

By Josie Ensor
24 Jun 2011

The space rock will reach within 7,500 miles of the surface and give off a light bright enough to be seen through a small telescope, experts said today.

It was only spotted on Wednesday by a robotic telescope in New Mexico that scans the skies for such hazards. An alert was then put out yesterday by the International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Center in Massachusetts.

The find was confirmed by Peter Birtwhistle, who has discovered dozens of asteroids from his own UK observatory, with a photo taken from Great Shefford in Berkshire.

It will be daylight in the UK when the asteroid, which has been named 2011 MD, makes its close encounter over the southern hemisphere.

But astronomers in other parts of the world, such as South America, will be able to watch it brighten and fade rapidly as it speeds through the starry background.