2007 TU24 Planning
Background
Instructions
Goldstone Masterlog
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Background
2007 TU24 was discovered by the Catalina Sky Survey (Arizona) on October 11, 2007.
This object's 1.4-lunar-distance approach on Jan. 29 is the closest for any
known Potentially Hazardous Asteroid until 2027. At this writing, the
object's orbit is too uncertain to identify post-2008 close Earth
approaches, but radar astrometry probably may allow prediction of any
close approaches centuries into the future.
Apart from its absolute visual magnitude (H = 20.1, implying a
diameter ~0.3 km if it has a typical S-class albedo), nothing is known
about TU24's physical properties, but the expected echo
signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) almost certainly will suffice for
high-resolution using Arecibo or Goldstone.
Goldstone observations are scheduled on January 23 and Arecibo observations are
scheduled on January 27-28 and February 1-4. Note that Goldstone observations straddle
the January 23-24 date boundary;
This object will brighten to about 11th magnitude in late January
when it will be a target for photometric and spectroscopic observations.
Orbital and Physical Characteristics
orbit type Apollo
semimajor axis 2.010 AU
eccentricity 0.529
inclination 5.8°
perihelion distance 0.947 AU
aphelion distance 3.073 AU
absolute magnitude (H) 20.1
diameter 300 meters +- a factor of two
rotation period unknown
pole direction unknown
lightcurve amplitude unknown
spectral class unknown
Last update: 2008 January 15
