Wednesday, May 7, 2014

Close Approach of Asteroid 2014 JR24

The asteroid 2014 JR24 was discovered (at magnitude ~17.2) on 2014, May 06.3 by Catalina Sky Survey (MPC code 703) with a 0.68-m Schmidt + CCD. 

2014 JR24 has an estimated size of 3.7 m - 8.2 m (based on the object's absolute magnitude H=29.3) and it had a close approach with Earth at about 0.3 LD (Lunar Distances = ~384,000 kilometers) or 0.0007 AU (1 AU = ~150 million kilometers) at 1045 UT on 2014, May 07. This asteroid reached the peak magnitude ~15.6 on May 07, 2014.

We performed some follow-up measurements of this object on 2014, May 07.3, remotely from the H06 iTelescope network (New Mexico) through a 0.43-m f/6.8 astrograph + CCD. Below you can see our image taken with the asteroid at magnitude ~15.7 and moving at ~466.77 "/min. At the moment of its close approach at 1045 UT, 2014 JR24 was moving at ~526 "/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 2014 JR24 (two consecutive 60-second exposure). Click on the thumbnail for a bigger version:


by Ernesto Guido, Nick Howes & Martino Nicolini

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