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Summary: Asteroid 2002 NY40 came so close to Earth on Aug. 17th and 18th that sky watchers could see it through binoculars or small telescopes. "It moved very quickly against the background field of stars. Very impressive, and a hard object to find and keep in the field of view," says Canadian amateur astronomer Lance Taylor, who used a 7-inch telescope to view the asteroid. "Visually it looked almost like a satellite--just farther away." |
| Photographer, Location | Images | Comments | |
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Jack Newton,
British Columbia, Canada Aug. 18 |
#1 | Photo details: one minute exposure; Meade 16" at f10 and a Finger Lakes Dream machine CCD camera |
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Clay Sherrod,
Arkansas Sky Observatory, Arkansas, USA Aug. 18 |
#1, more | C. Sherrod: "This is a 3-image mosaic of 2002 NY40. It was actually VERY difficult to time this NEO as it entered and passed through our narrow field of view (only 8' x 11' overall size). It would pass completely out of the CCD frame within 50 seconds, so it was necessary to fire away at 40-second exposures at the moment we thought the NEO would be entering the field....good luck and practice prevailed here. An incredibly humbling experience to see such rapid motion via such a close object." |