Recent Discoveries – Oct 7 – 12

2010 TD54 will pass the Earth today at a close distance of 28,000 miles or 45,500 km above the Earth’s surface. It is a small asteroid and probably only measure 5-10 meters across. At its brightest it will shine as a 14th magnitude ‘star’ and will require a large telescope or CCD camera to be seen.

More on TD54 can be found at NASA’s NEO Project Office page.

Asteroid    Type     MOID     a     e     i     H  Mag  Discoverer      MPEC
2010 TQ54   Amor    0.070   2.03  0.49   8.5  24.2  20  Mount Lemmon    2010-T83
2010 TP54   Apollo  0.038   2.35  0.59   3.3  21.7  21  Mount Lemmon    2010-T82
2010 TN54   Amor    0.164   2.14  0.45   4.8  19.2  19  Catalina        2010-T81
2010 TM54   Amor    0.202   1.62  0.28  17.5  23.9  21  Mount Lemmon    2010-T80
2010 TK54   Apollo  0.026   1.86  0.50  30.4  18.9  22  PanSTARRS       2010-T79
2010 TJ54   Amor    0.296   1.89  0.32  10.9  19.7  19  Catalina        2010-T70
2010 TH54   Apollo  0.049   1.49  0.35   8.5  23.8  19  Catalina        2010-T69
2010 TG54   Apollo  0.011   1.68  0.53   5.7  26.7  20  Mount Lemmon    2010-T68
2010 TF54   Amor    0.069   3.35  0.68  12.1  19.8  18  LINEAR          2010-T67
2010 TD54   Apollo  0.0003  1.79  0.62   5.1  28.7  21  Mount Lemmon    2010-T65
2010 TC54   Amor    0.146   2.66  0.57  19.7  20.9  19  LINEAR          2010-T64
2010 TB54   Apollo  0.011   1.15  0.28   6.7  26.8  19  Mount Lemmon    2010-T63
2010 TZ53   Apollo  0.085   1.03  0.33  20.3  23.2  19  LINEAR          2010-T61
2010 TS19   Apollo  0.003   2.41  0.70   5.6  25.7  18  Catalina        2010-T59
2010 TQ19   Apollo  0.024   1.43  0.29  14.4  25.3  18  LINEAR          2010-T58
2010 TP19   Apollo  0.099   1.68  0.43  21.0  23.7  21  Mount Lemmon    2010-T57
2010 TK19   Aten    0.042   0.94  0.13  13.0  25.0  18  Catalina        2010-T55
2010 TJ19   Apollo  0.032   1.51  0.32   5.8  26.0  19  Catalina        2010-T54
2010 TH19   Apollo  0.033   1.51  0.34   7.0  20.4  19  Catalina        2010-T53
2010 TG19   Aten    0.003   1.00  0.36  11.1  24.0  20  Catalina        2010-T52
2010 TK7    Aten    0.084   1.00  0.19  20.7  20.7  20  WISE            2010-T45
2010 TJ7    Amor    0.166   1.65  0.30  21.3  19.6  17  Siding Spring   2010-T43  

Comet       Type       T        q     a     e      i  Mag  Period        MPEC  
None

Type
Aten -  Earth crossing with semi-major axis (avg distance from Sun) < 1 AU
Apollo - Earth crossing with semi-major axis (avg distance from Sun) > 1 AU
Amor - non-Earth crossing with perihelion distance < 1.3 AU
JFC - Jupiter family comet
HFC - Halley family comet
LPC - Long-period comet
MBC - Main belt comet
ECC - Suspected extinct or dormant (or just unrecognized) comet
T - Date of Perihelion
MOID - Minimum Orbit Intercept Distance, minimum distance between asteroid and Earth's orbit
a - semi-major axis, average distance from Sun in AU (1 AU = 93 million miles)
e - eccentricity
i - inclination
H - absolute magnitude
Mag - magnitude at discovery
Discoverer - survey or person who discovered the object
MPEC - Minor Planet Electronic Circular, the discovery announcement

1 Comment

  1. Object observed two nights in a row: Oct. 11 &12., approx. 7:45 p.m., in Western sky, Prescott, AZ. The object seems to jiggle and turn red, green, amber, etc. Do you have any idea what it could be?

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