Update! Image of asteroid 2013 NK4
NASA astronomers were able to obtain radar images of the large asteroid that flew safely past Earth on Monday, April 15, 2024. They captured an image of the asteroid – named 2013 NK4 – using the Goldstone radar in California on April 13. NASA said:
The narrow radar echoes likely establish that 2013 NK4 is rotating very slowly and that its shape is bifurcated.
These observations suggest that asteroid 2013 NK4 is likely a contact binary. This means that it is made up of two bodies or asteroids that gravitate towards each other until they touch, resulting in this elongated shape. If a two-lobed asteroid looks familiar, it’s because we’ve seen space rocks like this before. For example, there is 4769 Castalia, discovered in 1989. It is even larger at 1.4 kilometers (0.87 miles) in diameter and is also classified as a potentially hazardous asteroid. And another example is Arrokoth, visited by the New Horizons mission. Arrokoth looks a bit like a snowman and is located in the Kuiper Belt.
The big asteroid is bigger than Apophis
Asteroid 2013 NK4 has a diameter of approximately 2,000 feet (610 meters). That makes it about twice as big as Apophis, the so-called doomsday asteroid that will pass closer than Earth’s artificial satellites in 2029. But 2013, NK4 passed us at a much greater distance. This was more than 8 times the distance of the moon closest to us. What’s so surprising about that? People with telescopes will be able to see it flying close to Earth!
The closest approach to asteroid 2013 NK4 occurred on Monday, April 15, 2024 at 2:51 p.m. UTC. But, because of its location in the sky, it will be easier to see through a telescope on the nights of April 16 and 17. See the researcher maps below.
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The asteroid’s orbit
Because the asteroid occasionally passes near Earth and is a fairly large space rock, 2013 NK4 holds the scary designation of a potentially hazardous asteroid. However, we have known about asteroid 2013 NK4 since 2013 (hence the year designation in its name), and it has a well-defined orbit. There was absolutely no danger to Earth during its flyby.
2013 NK4 orbits the sun every 378 days. But its orbit is slightly more elliptical than ours. Its orbit passes Mars then dips between the orbits of Venus and Mercury. The asteroid passed our planet at 36,909 miles per hour (59,400 km per hour), or 10.2 miles per second (16.5 km per second), relative to Earth.
Use a telescope to see the big asteroid
The use of “GoTo” or computerized telescopes makes observing an asteroid easier than ever. You will be able to see the asteroid in the eyepiece or telescope screen as a slowly moving point of light in front of the background stars.
NASA to study NK4
According to NASA/JPL, astronomers will study the space rock using the 70-meter DSS-14 Goldstone radar antenna in California from April 13-19. (See image above from April 13.) Additionally, on April 14, observations of this object were scheduled from Canberra, Australia, using the 34-meter (112 m) DSS-35 satellite dish. feet) from NASA.
Scientists hope to acquire highly detailed delay Doppler images, which should show the shape of the asteroid and perhaps allow them to better refine the size of the space rock.
Big asteroid to pass Earth! Deborah Byrd from EarthSky created this one-minute video summary for you.
Bottom line: A large asteroid – 2013 NK4, which is about 2,000 feet across – passed Earth safely on April 15, 2024. It will be visible in small telescopes on April 16 and 17. And look at the image from the Goldstone radar in California from April 13. It shows a bilobed object.[/caption]