Potentially Hazardous Asteroid (52768) 1998 OR2: new image and movie – 15 Apr. 2020
We have just released new image and video of the Potentially Hazardous Asteroid (52768) 1998 OR2, looking forward to show it live next 28 Apr.
Potentially Hazardous Asteroid (52768) 1998 OR2: a image – 15 Apr. 2020
The image above comes from a single 180-seconds exposure, remotely taken with the “Elena” (PlaneWave 17″+Paramount ME+SBIG STL-6303E) robotic unit available at Virtual Telescope. The asteroid is in the center of the image, visible as a sharp dot of light, clearly marked. The telescope tracked the apparent motion of 1998 OR2.
Using 166 images collected back to back, we created this animation: the asteroid seems to move across the stars, quite an impressive video:
Potentially Hazardous Asteroid (52768) 1998 OR2: a movie – 15 Apr. 2020
When we imaged it, asteroid 1998 OR2 was at about 12 millions of km from us. This 1.8 – 4.1 km large asteroid will come as close as 6.3 millions of km from us next 29 Apr., – more than 16 times the average lunar distance: it will NOT hit us! – becoming bright enough to be seen with modest optical equipment, if you know where to look. We will show it live, online.
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