LINEAR picked up a small rock now called 2011 MD that will be as close 12,000 kilometers (7500 miles) to the earth Monday the 27th about 12:00 noon, Topeka time. The rock will whiz by about 6.7 km/second actually fairly slow for a rock this close. We won’t be able to see it here at it’s closest. It’ll be deep in the southern hemisphere passing over the Antarctic while exiting the immediate vicinity of the earth.
The rather crude video shows the asteroid Saturday night.
Lance Benner has secured some time on the Goldstone radar facility to try and get a ‘radar picture’ of this ~10 meter object. Bill Gray has stated he didn’t think it was a piece of space junk but is natural. (real rock – not man made).
cheers,
Gary Hug
garyhug@ksmaildotnet
md
The newsletter for the Northeast Kansas Amateur Astronomers’ League Inc.