Potentially Hazardous Asteroid 2013 FW13 close encounter: an image – 16 Sept. 2024.
We spotted the Potentially Hazardous Asteroid 2013 FW13 one day before its relatively close, but obviously safe encounter with the Earth. It is coming as close as 3.2 millions of km from us.
The image above comes from a single 120-second exposure, remotely taken with the “Elena” (PlaneWave 17″ + Paramount MEII + SBIG STL-6303E) robotic unit available as part of the Virtual Telescope Project. The telescope tracked the apparent motion of the asteroid, so it looks like a sharp dot of light in the center of the picture, while stars leave bright streaks on the background.
At the imaging time, asteroid 2013 FW13 was at about 3,8 millions of km from us and approaching. Very bright (almost full) Moon in the sky.
This 120-270 meter large asteroid will reach its minimum distance (about 3.2 millions of km, 8.4 times the average lunar distance) from us on 18 Sept. 2024, at 06:29 UTC (source: Nasa/JPL). Of course, there are no risks at all for our planet.
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