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Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Close Approach of Asteroid 2013 XY8

M.P.E.C. 2013-X44, issued on 2013, December 08, reports the discovery of the asteroid 2013 XY8 (discovery magnitude 17.7) by Catalina Sky Survey (MPC code 703 ) on images taken on December 07.1 with a 0.68-m Schmidt + CCD.

2013 XY8 has an estimated size of 31 m - 68 m (based on the object's absolute magnitude H=24.7) and it will have a close approach with Earth at about 2 LD (Lunar Distances = ~384,000 kilometers) or 0.0051 AU (1 AU = ~150 million kilometers) at 1117 UT on 2013, December 11. This asteroid will reach the peak magnitude ~14.4 between December 10 & 11.

We performed some follow-up measurements of this object on 2013, December 10.6, remotely from the Faulkes Telescope South (MPC code E10), through a 2.0-m f/10.0 Ritchey-Chretien + CCD (Faulkes Telescope is operated by Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network).

Below you can see our image taken with the asteroid at magnitude ~15 and moving at ~78.0 "/min. At the moment of the close approach 2013 XY8 will move at ~151"/min. Click on the image below to see a bigger version. North is up, East is to the left (the asteroid is trailed in the image due to its fast speed).


Below you can see a short animation showing the movement of 2013 XY8 (four consecutive 30-second exposure). Click on the thumbnail for a bigger version:
 

by Ernesto Guido, Nick Howes & Martino Nicolini

4 comments:

  1. Any idea what the coordinates in the sky will be for its location?

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  2. @MikeynJazz you can generate RA & DEC coordinates for this asteroid using the Minor Planet & Comet Ephemeris Service:

    http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/iau/MPEph/MPEph.html

    Insert the date, the mpc code for the location and the asteroid designation 2013 XY8 to generate the ephemeris.

    Ciao,
    Ernesto

    ReplyDelete