Click here to view the embedded video.

Yesterday, January 13, 2010 there was an object that made a rather close pass at the earth.  There had been quite a bit of speculation as to what it really was, some thinking it was a piece of space junk, I even heard the rocket from ESA’s Venus Express.  The object has an orbit extending roughly from the orbit of Venus to the orbit of Mars and crosses Earth’s orbit at a steep angle the idea of a rocket stage is not considered likely by folks at the JPL NEO program.

The object passed the Earth about a third of the distance of the moon – VERY CLOSE.  The You Tube video at the top of the post was done by Patrick Wiggins, you can see the asteroid moving across the central portion of the video.  Video link.

Turns out the object is believed to be an asteroid, sized about 30 by 50 feet and is now named 2010 AL30.  The object passed very close and JPL points out there are about 2 million such objects and the likelihood of a pass within 1 lunar distance is about once per week.  Still, the real exiting thing about this particular object is that it was spotted at all think about it – it’s teeny!  Ok so the object was only spotted on Monday but still that’s pretty good for something this small.  Add to that the fact that once it was announced and astronomers started looking for it, they were able to see and track it.  I wanted to have a go at it, but alas the clouds wouldn’t relent.

Astronomers  Ernesto Guido & Giovanni Sostero (Associazione Friulana Di Astronomia E Meteorologia), are some of the best photographers of comets and objects like this.  They have more images at their site located at:  http://remanzacco.blogspot.com/2010/01/neo-2010-al30-close-approach.html

Oh by the way, I’ve seen reports suggesting this object had something to do with the terrible earthquake tragedy unfolding down in Haiti.  These people are crackpots and should be embarrassed from their own thoughtless stupidity.  So there.

One other thing, remember the name of this asteroid because it will be back perhaps in riddle form.  No Marian might not, but I might