A curious object is about to fly past Earth

Originally posted by waveguide3
The video of 2010AL30 taken by Vodniza and Periera was made through a 14" Meade using an SBig camera. I doubt a scope of less than 10" diameter would capture this object on video without actually tracking it.

WG3

You could very well be right about that. The speed was just insanely high and didn't leave any time for light to accumulate. On that note, I'm desperately searching for some asteroid continuous tracking software. Doing that on satellites can reveal even 5 meter objects in high orbits with my little scope, but the software can't handle objects in a solar orbit.
I'm hoping the semi-continuous leap-frogging goto I did using the harvard elements will reveal something when I look at it later since it should have made several "passes" over the same pixels repeatedly, but I suspect their elements were too obsolete. I was only able to do single GOTOs by manually punching in the numbers for the JPL ephemeris.

[edit on 13-1-2010 by ngchunter]

OMG I SEE IT!!! its actually buzz lightyear



Mod Note: Please stay on Topic – Review This Link.
Mod Note: One Line Post – Please Review This Link.

[edit on Thu Jan 14 2010 by Jbird]

Well I am curious to know what the situation is with this object as of today...kind of cloudy here where I am.

I got a telescope, reflective I think, but I am not sure if it would do it justice.

Originally posted by Devino
Curious that it orbits around Venus, similar orbital nodes as well, and back to Earth in a one year cycle.
JPL Applet
Could this be part of a Venus probe like Magellan or Venera?

Man, do YOU ever win the T-shirt!!!!!

From spaceweather.com

2010 AL30 UPDATE: An orbital analysis by Michael Khan of the European Space Agency suggests that 2010 AL30 could be the Fregat upper stage of the Soyuz launch vehicle that launched the Venus Express probe in Nov. 2005:

Close Asteroid Encounter Tomorrow

www.scilogs.eu...

from Michael Khan, 12. January 2010, 18:56

Tomorrow, Wednesday, January 13, 2010, a small asteroid called 2010 AL 30 (presumed diameter 10-15 meters) will buzz the Earth at just 1/3 of the lunar distance. The point of closest approach will be passed around 13:00 MT (14:00 CET).

,snip>

From the known approach conditions of Venus Express to Venus one can derive that a target point close above the planet's north pole, as was chosen in that mission, would lead to a deflection of an inert body on the same trajectory, such as the spent Fregat stage, that has a period of 1 year with perihelion and aphelion distances of 0.7 and 1.3 AU, respectively. These orbital parameters closely coincide with those of object 2010 AL30.

Obviously this does not constitute proof. But I would say that we have a surprisingly long chain of unusual coincidences here. Wouldn't you agree?


Mod Note: External Source Tags – Please Review This Link.



[edit on Thu Jan 14 2010 by Jbird]

Originally posted by Devino
Curious that it orbits around Venus, similar orbital nodes as well, and back to Earth in a one year cycle.

That's not what the article says. It says the object's projected orbit is closest to the Sun at about the same distance as the orbit of Venus, while its furthest distance is out around the orbit of Mars.

Still a really tight orbit, roughly similar in length to the Earth's orbit of the Sun (i.e. 365 days), but at a very steep angle relative to the plane of our Solar System.

— Doc Velocity

Im so glad you guys started this thread. How many of these things fly past the earth every year that we dont hear about? also, I'm sure this isnt the first time its been by our planet....or is it?

I mean, obviously NASA is going to call it an asteroid or something "safe". But it seems many of us are in agreement that it is much more. I for one definitely think it is more than space junk as well...especially considering the 1 year orbital period.

I really look forward to seeing some better images of the fly-by.

Originally posted by noisemedia
Im so glad you guys started this thread. How many of these things fly past the earth every year that we dont hear about? also, I'm sure this isnt the first time its been by our planet....or is it?

I mean, obviously NASA is going to call it an asteroid or something "safe". But it seems many of us are in agreement that it is much more. I for one definitely think it is more than space junk as well...especially considering the 1 year orbital period.

I really look forward to seeing some better images of the fly-by.

What about a 366-day orbital period specifically makes you think it is not an asteroid or space junk?

And its not just NASA that's calling it something "safe" (whatever "safe" means -- I would say an 11-meter asteroid 76,000 miles from Earth is not necessarily "safe"), but other non-NASA skywatchers as well have said it is an asteroid or space junk.

And this is a relatively common occurance -- there are about 2 Million near-Earth orbit asteroids out there. That may not be "public knowledge", but it is public information (i.e., it's not secret). In fact another newly-discovered near-Earth-orbit asteroid (2010 AG30) will come within 700,000 miles of Earth tomorrow (Thursday, Jan 14).

The reason this one sparked interest is that (1) It came verrrrry close to Earth -- 76,000 miles, and (2)its orbital period is about 1 year, so it will come verrrry close to Earth every year for the next few years.

Here's a catalog of over 1000 similar objects with near-Earth-orbits that NASA feels could pose a potential danger.

neo.jpl.nasa.gov...

[edit on 1/13/2010 by Soylent Green Is People]

Originally posted by Soylent Green Is People
this is a relatively common occurance -- there are about 2 Million near-Earth orbit asteroids out there. That may not be "public knowledge", but it is public information (i.e., it's not secret). In fact another newly-discovered near-Earth-orbit asteroid (2010 AG30) will come within 700,000 miles of Earth tomorrow (Thursday, Jan 14).

That 2 million number is a blind guess. Only about 6000 Near-Earth Asteroids (NEAs) have been positively identified, most of them documented only after crossing the Earth's orbit without warning. NEA observers (there are only a handful of them in the world) are pretty much blind to these objects until the last moment. Just based on the frequency of NEA passages, they have estimated there could be hundreds of thousands or even millions of such objects out there, but they simply don't know.

It's an unsettling mystery.

What is not a mystery is that we've already had extremely close shaves with ELE (Extinction Level Event) asteroids within the last three decades, the largest of which was about the size of the state of Utah and cruised by completely unannounced, within the Moon's orbit. Nobody knew it until the day after its passage.

That's how hard it is to spot these potential killer asteroids.

— Doc Velocity

reply to post by Doc Velocity


Yes -- The 2 million number is only an estimate.

However, I still don't think there is any evidence to believe this is "something else" other than an asteroid or space junk.

So does anyone have a solid picture of it..?

WOW... that "satellite" is sure hauling some major ass... moving much much faster than the "asteroid"....

I saw the object this morning 4:30 am PST (California). As was espected, the size of the object was like the littlest star on sky. I woke up at 4:00 am and prepare my telescope and camera. As the object wa suppose to be seen at 7:47 EST in the East coast, I supposed that the time for West coast was 4:30 am PST. Exactly at that time I saw the object moving from North to East. It was so little that I couldn't take any picture. What impressed me was the speed of the object: it moved across the sky from North to East in about 7 to 8 minutes.
I want to congratulate the people of Grove Creek Observatory in Australia for share this information with us. Their website is real good and they have a online telescope for amateur astronomer like me and many of us. This is their link
www.gco.org.au...
I wish the others 'experts' would like to share with rest of the world their information.
If you want to see a very rare and strange star go to my ats and look the picture that I took on Dec 17.

I can't beleive with all the technology we have that no ones has taken a clear photo of this object.

Is there something else that they have found out about the object that they don't want us to know, so they have time to photoshop some pictures and release them to the public?

Originally posted by Is2012TheDate
I saw the object this morning 4:30 am PST (California). As was espected, the size of the object was like the littlest star on sky. I woke up at 4:00 am and prepare my telescope and camera. As the object wa suppose to be seen at 7:47 EST in the East coast, I supposed that the time for West coast was 4:30 am PST. Exactly at that time I saw the object moving from North to East. It was so little that I couldn't take any picture. What impressed me was the speed of the object: it moved across the sky from North to East in about 7 to 8 minutes.

The problem is that just before dawn is always the perfect time to spot Earthly manmade satellites, as they reflect the sunlight from below the horizon. So, it's more likely that you spotted a manmade satellite — they appear about the size and brightness of a low-magnitude star and really haul ass across the sky in a matter of a few minutes. You can usually spot manmade satellites with the naked eye in the pre-dawn hours, roughly following North/South trajectories.

Just to test that theory, try going out again Thursday morning and watch the same area of sky at the exact same time or a bit earlier — chances are you'll see your bogey again. If so, it's a manmade satellite.

— Doc Velocity






[edit on 1/13/2010 by Doc Velocity]

Originally posted by cnm1976
Is there something else that they have found out about the object that they don't want us to know, so they have time to photoshop some pictures and release them to the public?

A knowledgeable Photoshopper could knock out convincing hoax photos in a matter of minutes. No "extra time" is needed. From the time they first sighted the object, they could have hoax photos prepared in an hour or less.

— Doc Velocity

Originally posted by Soylent Green Is People
I still don't think there is any evidence to believe this is "something else" other than an asteroid or space junk.

Oh, I agree. Just based on its period of solar orbit (about one Earth year), and understanding that it's making the trip from the Sun out to the orbit of Mars and back again in 366 days (the equivalent of about one and a half round-trip Mars missions every year), you start to realize that this thing is hauling nine kinds of ass, much faster than anything Man has ever deployed out there.

Plus, it's coming in from a steep angle relative to the plane of our Solar System. We typically use the gravitational pull of the planets to "slingshot" our probes from one planet to the next — so we generally deploy our probes parallel to the plane of the Solar System, not perpendicular to the plane.

This thing was coming in on a weird angle, too weird to be a hunk of manmade space junk.

So, I'm thinking it's a smallish iron/nickel asteroid, probably one disturbed from its home in the vicinity of the Asteroid Belt just beyond Mars. The close passage of a comet may have disturbed this asteroid, precipitating its "fall" toward the Sun, which started its new orbit crossing the path of Earth.

Or it could be a nice, dry piece of an old comet just whizzing through our Solar System, dropping off a fragment like lost baggage to be captured by the Sun's gravity.

In any event, it sounds like a bitch of a new experimental target for our developing anti-asteroid technology. Couldn't ask for a better target than a benign one that grazes Earth every year.

— Doc Velocity






[edit on 1/13/2010 by Doc Velocity]

I'm guessing since I haven't heard anything about it, this object was probably Venus reflecting through abnormal atmospheric conditions with a little bit of swamp gas causing the distortion so no one could see it.

Perfectly plausible explanation

Mod Note: Please stay on Topic – Review This Link.

[edit on Thu Jan 14 2010 by Jbird]

Or it could be an alien probe sent here to scan earth the sun and mars !

Originally posted by cnm1976
I can't beleive with all the technology we have that no ones has taken a clear photo of this object.

It's a 10 meter object thousands of kilometers away at best, just how clear do you think we should be able to see it?

Is there something else that they have found out about the object that they don't want us to know, so they have time to photoshop some pictures and release them to the public?

For me, finding it in the pictures is a trick; it's a faint dot among many faint dots. The only way I could have even captured it is by "running it over" with the telescope repeatedly while the camera was open - that leaves duplicates of every star, and where I think I might see a streak of the object, it could just as easily be a star that happened to smudge onto another star during a "duplication." Ruling that out takes time, and regardless of how difficult it is to find in pictures taken with better setups, images still require processing; dark frame subtraction, bias frames, stacking, level stretching, conversion to 8 bits, etc.