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When Will Binary Asteroid 1999 Kw4 Pass by Earth Again?

A large double asteroid passed Earth this weekend (May 25, 2019) at the very safe distance of near 13.5 times the World-moon distance. It wasn't visible to the eye, merely it was long expected, and – every bit the video above shows – some observers defenseless information technology on film. This video – from Samford Valley Observatory in Australia – was fabricated with images captured with a 14″ telescope around the time of 1999 KW4's closest approach to Earth. It shows the space stone gliding in front of the stars. In add-on, radar observations of asteroid 1999 KW4 are scheduled from Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico from May 29 to June 7, and from NASA's Goldstone Solar System Radar in the desert near Barstow, California, from May 26 to 31. The radar images should show the asteroid's dual nature; we'll add them to this post as we encounter them. In the concurrently, the opportunity for amateur astronomers with telescopes to detect this asteroid yet exists; look for charts for telescope users beneath.

Left, a blurred image of a double asteroid, one large, the other much smaller. Right, an artist's impression of the same object showing large and small rocky asteroids.
The left-manus image shows observations from the the SPHERE instrument on ESO's Very Large Telescope of asteroid 1999 KW4, every bit information technology swept by on May 25, 2019. The angular resolution in this epitome is equivalent to picking out a single building in New York … from Paris. An artist'south impression of the asteroid pair is shown on the right. Read more about this epitome from ESO.

1999 KW4 is moving fast. It's traveling at 48,123 miles per 60 minutes (77,446 km/h or 21.v km/second), relative to World. Its fast speed, and the size of this asteroid, are what allow amateur observers to run into information technology movement in forepart of the stars. Sky enthusiasts equipped with telescopes eight inches in bore and bigger might be able to catch this asteroid. One of the best techniques for locating information technology volition be to signal a computerized telescope to a star known to be in the space rock's path, and wait for the asteroid to appear. It will look similar a very boring moving "star." At start, the asteroid might be tricky to detect since its motion will appear very slow. If you are pointing at the correct time and location in the sky, have a expert await at the visual field of the telescope. Be patient. Proficient things come to those who wait.

Another idea is to draw a sketch of the positions of the brightest stars and a few other stars you encounter at the eyepiece. Then compare the positions just 10 minutes later, and yes, you volition find the asteroid!

By updating your sketches showing the asteroid'southward position with respect to the stars, you can also show the huge infinite rock to other people, then they can see the object that's making news with their ain optics.

The location of asteroid 1999 KW4 during closest approach was nearly favorable for observers in Globe's Southern Hemisphere. Now the space rock is globe-trotting to other constellations, and observers in the Northern Hemisphere should be able to locate information technology first around May 27, 2019, when the asteroid will come over our southern horizon. See charts beneath.

Get to In-the-Sky.org for more observing information on 1999 KW4

Chart with constellations Leo, Hydra, Cancer, and Crater with asteroid location marked.
Location of asteroid 1999 KW4 on May 27, 2019, at nightfall, as seen from the central U.South., facing southwest. Illustration by Eddie Irizarry using Stellarium.
Asteroid location marked in chart with stars HIP 51283 and HIP 51053.
On May 27, 2019, at around ix:45 p.chiliad. CDT, observers in the U.S. using computerized or Go To telescopes can point their instruments to stars HIP 51053 or HIP 51283 to discover asteroid 1999 KW4 slowly moving in front end of the stars. Illustration by Eddie Irizarry using Stellarium.
Asteroid location with constellations Leo, Hydra, Sextans and Crater.
Location of asteroid 1999 KW4 on May 28, 2019, at effectually 11:00 p.1000. – xi:30 p.m. CDT as seen from the central U.South., facing west-southwest. Illustration by Eddie Irizarry using Stellarium.
Asteroid location marked in chart with HIP 54013 and 61 Leo.
Have a computerized telescope? Point it to star HIP 53907 (61 Leo) on the dark of May 28, 2019, at around xi – xi:30 p.m. CDT to locate asteroid 1999 KW4. Illustration past Eddie Irizarry using Stellarium.

Asteroid (66391) 1999 KW4 consists of a primary space rock simply under a mile wide (nearly one.5 km), with a 0.3-mile-wide (0.5-km-broad) companion asteroid – an asteroid moon – orbiting the master asteroid. It'southward an Aten type – or Earth-crossing – space rock. Its orbit brings information technology between the orbits of Venus and Earth. It completes an orbit around the sun once every vi.18 months (188 days).

An interesting facet of asteroid 1999 KW4 is its shape. It has an oblate shape with an equatorial ridge, like to asteroids Bennu and Ryugu. Observations suggest the secondary asteroid, or asteroid moon, of 1999 KW4 orbits the main space rock every xvi hours at a distance of most ane.6 miles (2.half-dozen km).

The video below – from a NASA Goldstone Radar planning document – shows the orbital motion of 1999 KW4 from December 2022 until July 2019, in a heliocentric or lord's day-centered reference frame. The asteroid makes 2 close flybys of Earth during this period.

Split panel showing a big round rocky body (the primary asteroid), with a tiny light near it (the asteroid moon).
Two radar images of double asteroid 1999 KW4. It'south a large space rock just under a mile wide (about i.5 km), with a smaller companion moon (the bright speck). The piffling moon tin be seen to motion from ane side of the asteroid to the other, equally it orbits. Images via Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico/NASA/NSF/Southward. J. Ostro, J. L. Margot, L. A. Thousand. Benner, J. D. Giorgini, D. J. Scheeres, E. One thousand. Fahnestock, Due south. B. Broschart, J. Bellerose, M. C. Nolan, C. Magri, P. Pravec, P. Scheirich, R. Rose, R. F. Jurgens, Eastward. M. De Jong, S. Suzuki.

1999 KW4 was discovered by the Lincoln Almost-Earth Asteroid Inquiry (LINEAR) astronomical survey in Socorro, New Mexico, in 1999. It has been classified as a Well-nigh-Earth object and a potentially hazardous object by the Small-scale Planet Middle. However, the orbit of this huge space rock is well understood and known to pose no risk to Globe. During the closest of its approaches to Earth, its orbit brings it no closer than five Globe-moon distances.

The next encounter with Globe, which will exist fifty-fifty closer than this year's, occurs on May 25, 2036.

An interesting fact: Later asteroid 1999 KW4 passes by Earth on May 25, 2019, no known asteroid as large or larger than this space rock will approach our planet this shut until yr 2027.  On June 6, 2027, asteroid 4953 (1990 MU), a 4 km to 9 km (2.5 to v.5 mi) infinite rock volition prophylactic laissez passer past World at 12 lunar distances, and will return on 2058 at ix lunar distances.

Accept a look at the curious shape of asteroid 1999 KW4 and its moon in this video:

Lesser line: Professional and amateur astronomers geared up to observe asteroid 1999 KW4 – a mile-wide, oddly shaped asteroid with a companion moon – around its closest approach on May 25, 2019. Now observers in the Northern Hemisphere should be able to locate it offset around May 27, 2019, when the asteroid will come over our southern horizon.

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Source: https://earthsky.org/space/double-asteroid-1999-kw4-closest-may-25-2019/

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