asteroids give us a rare chance to see things moving in real time On Tuesday, January 18th, we have a chance to see a 1.1 kilometer asteroid pass by Earth.
This is about five times the distance from Earth to the Moon, and just a shade over the distance to the anti-Sunward Earth-Sun Lagrange 2 point.
Earth and the space telescope are safe from the asteroid on this pass for centuries to come. The asteroid was discovered by astronomer Robert McNaught from the Siding Spring Observatory.
The Apollo asteroid is an Earth-crosser, with a perihelion interior to our own at 0.9AU from the Sun, and an aphelion out in the asteroid belt at 1.8AU. It's inclination is relative to the ecliptic and makes it pass far from Earth on most years.
The asteroid 1994 PC1 is well known and has been studied for decades. 1994 PC1 will fly past our planet 1.2 million miles away next week.
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You can track it yourself here.
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January 12, 2022, NASA Asteroid Watch.
1994 PC1 is in images all the way back to 1974.
The target of NASA's Osiris-Rex sample return mission, 101955 Bennu, is only slightly larger than 1994 PC11994PC1), a S-class stony-type asteroid.
This week's pass is the closest to the asteroid since January 17, 1933, and the closest for the next two centuries, although the pass on January 18, 2105 is nearly as close.
The asteroid 1994 PC1. The NASA/JPL.
The asteroid is being hunted.
Observers can see the asteroid for themselves this week.
On the night of January 18th, 1994, PC1 will be crossing on the Cetus/Pisces border and moving at 2 degrees an hour, four times the size of tonight's Full Moon.
After just a few minutes, you can see the motion of the asteroid versus the background. 1994 PC1 should be easily seen with a small telescope or binoculars if it flirts with magnitude +9 or so.
The asteroid 4179 Toutatis was close to picures picures in 2004. This week's passage was very similar to the one from last week, as the space rock crept across the background.
The asteroid is still a respectable +12th magnitude plus on either evening before or after closest approach, January 17th or January 19th, so you can start hunting for 1994 PC1 tonight. The asteroid's true position in the sky won't be affected by parallax or observer location.
You need a telescope that can point at coordinates in right ascension and declination. You can get these ephemerides by entering '1994 PC1' at the NASA/JPL site.
On the night of January 17th, 1994, asteroid 1994 PC1 was low to the south on the border of the southern hemisphere constellations of Fornax and Eridanus. It's not an impossible target for North American observers.
On Tuesday, January 18th, the asteroid will make its closest pass to Earth in this century. You can see the Earth as a 22' half-full disk, slightly smaller than a full moon, standing on the surface of the asteroid Tuesday night.
The path of the asteroid for January 18th is 24 hours. The night was themed "Starry Night".
The precise time of closest approach favors Africa and European longitudes, but North America also gets a good look at dusk. One way to track the asteroid is to know when it's going to pass near a bright star, stake out the position, and watch.
The chance to see 1994 PC1 pass 43' from the star Alrescha will occur at 21:05 UT Tuesday night.
There is a pass near Alrescha from 21:02 to 21:29 UT. There was a movie called "Starry Night."
The asteroid is much farther north in the constellation. Wednesday has the advantage of being almost 1.7 million miles away, which makes it a good place to view the waning gibbous Moon before it rises.
Are you clouded out? The Virtual Telescope Project has you covered with a live broadcast following 1994 PC1 on the 18th.
The recent comedy Don't Look Up... is a good show, but asteroid 1994 PC1 won't offer the same scenario. Good luck on your quest to find an asteroid.
The article was published by Universe Today. The original article can be found here.
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