Post by Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe on Mar 10, 2006 1:17:31 GMT -6
Asteroids 2000 PN 2009 - 2006 EC & 2006 EH1
Yesterday, the 8th of March 2006, Asteroid 2006 EC came closer to the Earth (168,000 miles), than that of the Moon.
The house sized asteroid has a compact orbit:
Asteroid (2006 EC)
Info on Near Earth Asteroids can be found here: www.hohmanntransfer.com/h22/now.htm#K06E00C
ASTEROID MOVIE
A mile-wide asteroid (2000 PN9) flew past Earth on March 6th at a close but safe distance of two million miles. Using a 16-inch Meade telescope and a digital video camera, Bob Forrest of Hertford, UK, recorded the encounter: "I was surprised how rapidly the asteroid moved." His video spans 8 minutes and shows the asteroid racing through the constellation Pisces.
See it here: spaceweather.com/swpod2006/07mar06/forrest1.mpg
Forthcoming Approaches to Earth index from Harvard University:
cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/lists/CloseApp.html
And a good site on Near Earth Asteroids:
www.astroguard.com/
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The movie is quite cool and I'm sure there are plenty of space debris heading this way...
