There is no danger. Luckily, since the body will be moving at 28 000 km/hour. And if by chance it did strike the Earth, the impact of the asteroid would create a 1km diameter crater. It would decimate all life within a radius of 20 km. But that will not happen. According to the scientists of the Institute of Celestial Mechanics and Ephemeris Calculations IMCCE [1] of the Observatoire de Paris, any possibility of collision with our planet can be dismissed for at least the coming century. These teams have provided in France numerical data tables for this phenomenon – its ephemeris. Their prediction is based on an exact fit of the theoretical path to 208 astrometric measurements made over the course of a year, from February 23rd 2012 to February 3rd 2013.
2012 DA14 has not been known for long. It was discovered at the Observatory of Majorca-La Sagra (Andalousia, Spain), on 22nd of February, 2012. It just passed at a distance of 2.6 million kilometers.
Near Earth Object
Within the framework of its international scientific responsibilities the IMCCE creates numerical reference tables – the ephemeris – which are among the most exact in the world, enabling one to predict the position and the path of the celestial object as a function of time. 2012 DA14 turns around the Sun in 368 days. It is a member the Near Earth Object class of asteroids called the Apollos, which regularly cross the orbit of the Earth, and could thus constitute a potential collisional hazard. After its next meeting with our planet, the gravitational interaction will change its period to 317 days, and it will become a member of the Atens group.
At 21h in France
On the evening of Friday February 15th, 2012 DA14 will cross the sky from horizon to horizon. In the course of a few hours, it will pass from the Southern hemisphere to the Northern. In France, it will appear at 21h above the Eastern horizon, in the constellation of Coma Berenices. It will then cross Canes Venatici, Ursa Major, Draco and Camelopardalis after midnight. At dawn: i twill come close to the pole star, north of Ursa Minor.
International Campaign
The phenomenon will be closely followed within the framework of a new program for the systematic surveillance of the sky, which has been set up by the scientists of the IMCCE. Five automatic cameras have been installed on the roof the Paris Observatory, at the Pic-du-Midi Observatory, at Guzet and at Montsec (Pyrenees).
Some scientists will be trying to work at the Paris Observatory. One of them however is leaving for the top of the Pic-du-Midi, at an altitude of 2877 m, in the Pyrenees. He will use a mobile 30 cm diameter telescope, and the electronic images will be available on the grandpublic.obspm.fr site. About ten of the world-wide network of collaborators organized by IMCCE should be able to furnish the first images from the southern hemisphere, notably from Australia.
Challenging observations
In spite of its proximity – it will pass at a distance 14 times closer than the Moon - it will not be an easy object for amateur astronomers to see. It will not be visible with the naked eye, since it reflects too little sunlight. At 21h, it will be 10 times less bright than the dimmest star which is still visible to the naked eye. At midnight it will have become 100 times dimmer. Nevertheless, knowledgeable amateurs with opera glasses or telescopes should be able to discern it from a favorable site, far from city lights. 2012 DA14 will be a moving point, not unlike an artificial satellite speeding through the stars.
Zoom
Asteroid 2012 DA14
Diameter: about 45 m
Closest approach: 15th of February 2013, 20h 24mn 44s
Distance of closest approach: 27 700 km
Speed: 28 000 km/hour
Best time to see it in France : 20h30 – 21h30
Know more
- See the dedicated page of Institut de Mécanique Céleste et de Calcul des Éphémérides IMCCE, at Observatoire de Paris. You will find there up-to-date official astronomical information.
- See all the maps showing visibility of 2012DA14 as a function of the time. Detailed calculations are made by astronomer Patrick Rocher IMCCE.
Discovery animated images
[1] The Institute of Celestial Mechanics and Ephemeris Calculations is a science department of Observatoire de Paris associated with CNRS, Université de Science et Technologie de Lille and Université Pierre et Marie Curie.