#1998 qe2

View On WordPress

View On WordPress

NASA is tracking a large near-Earth asteroid as it passes by the Earth-Moon system on May 31st. Amateur astronomers in the northern hemisphere may be able to see the space rock for themselves during the 1st week of June.

June 7, 2013: Scientists working with NASA's 230-foot-wide (70-meter) Deep Space Network antenna at Goldstone, Calif., have released a new and improved movie clip of near-Earth asteroid 1998 QE2 and its moon. The 55 individual images used in the movie were generated from data collected at Goldstone on June 1, 2013.

May 30, 2013: Approaching asteroid 1998 QE2 has a moon. Researchers found it in a sequence of radar images obtained by the 70-meter Deep Space Network antenna at Goldstone, Calif., on the evening of May 29th (May 30th Universal Time) when the asteroid was about 6 million kilometers from Earth.

Since Asteroid 1998 QE2 has a named which evokes cruise ships, astrophysicist Rhys Taylor has created this wonderful video comparing the two QE2s. He also has more information on his great blog, Physicists of the Caribbean.

"We the Geeks" google hangout starting now hosted by the White House to talk asteroids, space and all things cool.

Watch on WH.gov/We-the-Geeks.