January 28, 2008 — There are some visitors who overstay their welcome. And then there’s asteroid 2007 TU24, whose last visit to Earth was more than 2,000 years ago.
On Wednesday, the asteroid, believed to be about 800-feet in size, will fly by Earth and be observable by amateur astronomers with modest-sized telescopes.
The asteroid should make its closest pass to Earth —334,000 miles — at 12:33 a.m. Pacific time. Be sure to get a good look because you won’t get another chance until it returns at about the end of the next century.
"This will be the closest approach by a known asteroid of this size or larger until 2027," said Don Yeomans, manager of the Near Earth Object Program Office at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. “As its closest approach is about one-and-a-half times the distance of Earth to the moon, there is no reason for concern. On the contrary, Mother Nature is providing us an excellent opportunity to perform scientific observations."
The asteroid was discovered by the NASA-sponsored Catalina Sky Survey on Oct. 11, 2007. The first picture of it was taken last week with high-resolution radar data.
Asteroid 2007 TU24 will reach an approximate apparent magnitude 10.3 on Jan. 29-30 before quickly becoming fainter as it moves farther from Earth. The asteroid will be observable in dark and clear skies through amateur telescopes with apertures of at least 7.6 centimeters (3 inches). An object with a magnitude of 10.3 is about 50 times fainter than an object just visible to the naked eye in a clear, dark sky.
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This picture of asteroid 2007 TU24 was taken with high-resolution radar data and indicates it is somewhat asymmetrical in size. It will pass within 334, 000 miles of Earth on January 29.
NASA’s Near Earth Object Program keeps an eye on space rocks that could impact Earth.
Video about 2007 TU24
JPL scientist Don Yeomans explains how the asteroid will make its swing past Earth on January 29.
Watch the JPL video now on YouTube.
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