An asteroid discovered in October recently passed Earth, giving astronomers only a small window of opportunity to capture the cosmic event on camera. University Astronomy Prof. Greg Black worked with astronomers across the country, including those at NASA, and new technology to make sure the chance did not fly by.
Black said Asteroid 2007 TU24, was a "clear miss," as it was more than 300,000 miles away from Earth, 40 percent farther from the Earth than the moon. Black said, however, that the asteroid, 800 feet in diameter, would have caused significant regional damage if an impact had occurred.
Black recorded images of the asteroid from the Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia, while others took photographs at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California and at an observatory in Puerto Rico. Black chose to use multiple telescopes in his imaging because of the asteroid's close proximity, he said.
Lindley Johnson, program executive for the Near Earth Object Observations Program at NASA, underscored the importance of Black's imaging technique, noting Black's process provided depth perception by using two telescopes rather than one.
"He's trying to develop this new technique, long-baseline interferometric radar, to provide more detailed data," Johnson said, adding, "Without sending a spacecraft out to the object, it's the easiest and cheapest way for us to determine what the size and mass of these objects are, which is a way to determine what energy they would have if they were to impact the earth."
Black noted that there are several benefits of recording images of asteroids: The images provide insight about how the solar system works and help scientists understand how to deal with potential impacts. Images also provide detailed information about an asteroid, such as its surface, size, shape and motion.
"Because of the measurements we were able to get, we can predict that [this asteroid] won't be a hazard to the earth for the next hundred years," said Jon Giorgini, senior engineer at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
No other asteroids are expected to come so close to Earth in the next 30 years, though several thousand are predicted to approach Earth in the near future, Black said.
Scientists are only aware of 5 to 10 percent of all the asteroids in the solar system, Johnson said, noting that those known are mainly large ones. Continuing to gather knowledge of asteroids is important, Johnson stressed, because an object of only a few hundred meters in size would devastate the area of a state if it struck Earth.
"It's important to us to continue efforts to find and characterize those objects before they find us," Johnson said.
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