2007 TU24

Asteroid was discovered by the Catalina Sky Survey in Arizona on October 11, 2007. Imaging radar has estimated that this asteroid is in diameter. This object's 554,209 kilometer (344,370 mile or 1.4-lunar distance) approach on January 29 2008 at 08:33 UTC was the closest for any known potentially hazardous asteroid (PHA) of this size until 2027. At closest approach the asteroid had an apparent magnitude of 10.3 and was about 50 times fainter than what the naked eye can see. It required about a telescope to be seen.

Impact risk assessment

From the date of discovery of asteroid on 11 October, 2007, a total of 315 observations of this asteroid were made by 31 January 2008, spanning 112 days. The trajectory of this asteroid is well defined. It was removed from the 'current impact risks' page of the NASA website on 4 December 2007 at 14:05 UTC.

Further updates

Goldstone Observatory carried out radar observations of this asteroid on January 23 and January 24 2008. As of January 24, the orbit of this asteroid was known with such a high precision that scientists were able to calculate close approaches of this asteroid from the year 67 AD to 2141 AD. This simulation showed that on January 29 2008 at 08:33 UTC, the asteroid would fly by the earth at distance 554,110 km (0.003704 AU) with a relative speed of 9.248 km/s.

Observations from Arecibo Observatory were taken on February 1-4.

Other close approaches

• Asteroid 2004 XP14 was the closest potentially hazardous asteroid, passing Earth by 432,308 km (268,624 miles), 0.00289 AU, or just 1.1 times the Moon's average distance from Earth on July 3 2006.
• Asteroid 4179 Toutatis (4.5 km diameter) came within 1.5 million km, 0.0104 AU (within 4 lunar distances) of the Earth on September 29 2004.
• On August 7 2027, (137108) 1999 AN10 will pass within 388,960 km (0.0026 AU) of the Earth.
• On Friday, April 13 2029, Apophis will pass the earth within the orbits of the geosynchronous communication satellites.

See also

• List of noteworthy asteroids
• Asteroid deflection strategies
• Asteroid naming conventions
• Radar astronomy

References

External links

• Orbital simulation from JPL (Java) / Horizons Ephemeris
• Asteroid to Make Rare Close Flyby of Earth (Catalina Sky Survey Photo)
• Huge asteroid to fly by past earth.Independent Online
• Near Earth Object Program (at NASA.gov)
• NEODys site entry for 2007TU24