Holy Close Call Batman, asteroid 2014 RC

In summary, newly discovered asteroid 2014 RC, the size of a house, will pass extremely close to Earth in 2 days, coming within 1000 miles of the orbits of our geosynchronous satellites. This event will be visible to observers in the Southern Hemisphere with the appropriate equipment. The Virtual Telescope Project will be live streaming the event. This serves as a reminder of our vulnerability to NEO's, as even a house-sized asteroid can have significant impact. The NEO program operated by JPL only catalogs larger objects, leaving smaller, but still dangerous, asteroids undetected.
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  • #2
Wow, that's pretty close!
 
  • #3
Drakkith said:
Wow, that's pretty close!

Another report puts it at just outside of Geosyn. Sat. Orbits, so I'm not sure which is correct.
In any case Southern Hemi observers with appropriate equipment might be able to catch it briefly at magnitude +11.5 traveling fast across the constellations Pictor and Puppis.
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  • #6
This is yet another example of how vulnerable we are to NEO's. Granted, a house size boulder is not of doomsday proportions, but, still extremely dangerous. According to http://janus.astro.umd.edu/astro/impact/ an asteroid this size would pack the punch of a half megaton nuke, and can be expected to happen about every 20 years. The NEO program operated by JPL is intended to catalog bodies in the 1 kilometer class, so it offers no protection from mere house sized bodies. The potential hazardous asteroid catalog by NASA accounts for about 1500 objects, the vast majority of which are over 150 meters in size. More modest sized rocks are not catalogued because they are too small to be detected. A 150 meter rock would be equivalent to a 200 megaton nuke and trigger a magnitude 7 earthquake. Pretty scary stuff.
 

What is asteroid 2014 RC?

Asteroid 2014 RC is a small asteroid that was first discovered in September 2014. It received its name from the year it was discovered and the order in which it was found that year.

How close did asteroid 2014 RC come to Earth?

Asteroid 2014 RC came within 25,000 miles of Earth on September 7th, 2014. This is a relatively close distance in astronomical terms, but posed no threat to our planet.

Was asteroid 2014 RC visible to the naked eye?

No, asteroid 2014 RC was not visible to the naked eye. It was only visible through telescopes, and even then, it appeared as a faint dot in the sky.

Could asteroid 2014 RC have collided with Earth?

No, the trajectory of asteroid 2014 RC was well-studied and it was determined that it posed no threat of colliding with Earth. It passed by our planet safely, without causing any damage.

What can we learn from the close approach of asteroid 2014 RC?

The close approach of asteroid 2014 RC allows scientists to study its composition and trajectory in more detail, providing valuable information about the formation and evolution of our solar system. It also serves as a reminder of the importance of continued asteroid detection and tracking efforts to ensure the safety of our planet.

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