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WISE Discovers It's First Dark-Asteroid

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posted on Jan, 24 2010 @ 08:18 PM
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WISE Discovers It's First Dark-Asteroid

I thought this was worth posting since no one has done so yet, and since the topic of NEOs (Near Earth Objects) seems to be a very popular topic of discussion on these forums.

The brand new WISE space telescope is designed to hunt for the harder to see objects, and should give us a much better idea of the scale of the threat that is posed by NEOs. I'm sure there will be plenty of new discoveries to come, especially considering how quickly WISE made it's first discovery.


The near-Earth object, designated 2010 AB78, was discovered by WISE Jan. 12. After the mission's sophisticated software picked out the moving object against a background of stationary stars, researchers followed up and confirmed the discovery with the University of Hawaii's 2.2-meter (88-inch) visible-light telescope near the summit of Mauna Kea.

The asteroid is currently about 158 million kilometers (98 million miles) from Earth. It is estimated to be roughly 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) in diameter and circles the sun in an elliptical orbit tilted to the plane of our solar system. The object comes as close to the sun as Earth, but because of its tilted orbit, it is not thought to pass near our planet. This asteroid does not pose any foreseeable impact threat to Earth, but scientists will continue to monitor it.

Visit the source for the full article: NASA


Related links

In Search of Dark Asteroids (and Other Sneaky Things)
WISE mission fact sheet (pdf)
WISE Home Page



posted on Jan, 24 2010 @ 09:38 PM
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Aaaannnd it really really works!
Very good news, especially since the enhanced asteroid spotting abilities are no more than clever coding.


April, 2009 – NASA Headquarters has approved the development of an enhancement to the WISE science data processing pipeline called NEOWISE. The NEOWISE enhancements will allow scientists to discover new moving objects such as asteroids and comets with WISE and provide information for follow up observations within days of the WISE observations. We will also create a searchable archive that will enable researchers to see whether WISE observed a particular object even if it is not discovered until years later. These enhancements will significantly increase WISE's solar system science capabilities.

ds9.ssl.berkeley.edu...

[edit on 1/24/2010 by Phage]



posted on Jan, 24 2010 @ 09:48 PM
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expected to find about 100-thousand previously undiscovered asteroids in the Main Belt between Mars and Jupiter, and hundreds of new near-Earth asteroids


Wow, the Nibiru and Asteroid Impact Buffs will be having a field day with WISE.






posted on Jan, 24 2010 @ 09:49 PM
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reply to post by grantbeed
 

The possibility of asteroid impact is very real.
Nibiru...not so much.



posted on Jan, 24 2010 @ 09:56 PM
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reply to post by Phage
 




The possibility of asteroid impact is very real


Fair call. I guess it is.

Maybe WISE can give us more of a heads up and let us prepare for this day.

If there are that many dark asteroids out there, the people working on this project are going to be real busy for quite some time!



posted on Jan, 25 2010 @ 09:41 AM
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Its good to have early warning systems.You can never have too many.

I noticed the article states that it expects to find hundreds of previously un-noticed n.e.o.s. So i was curious how many there currently are and found this interesting link.
How many?



posted on Jan, 25 2010 @ 03:34 PM
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Thank you all for the replies.


Aaaannnd it really really works!


Amen to that.

Good spot there regarding the software Phage. Whoever had the idea for the enhanced capabilities deserves an award IMO. Pure genius!



Wow, the Nibiru and Asteroid Impact Buffs will be having a field day with WISE.


I agree with Phage, and yes, it's going to cause quite a stir I think!


Its good to have early warning systems.You can never have too many.


Well, we need more right now, that is for sure. If there was a really big on the way, and headed right for us, we'd want to know as soon as possible so that we had time to try and deflect it. Thankfully, the chances of one doing that are low, since space is so vast and empty - in most places anyway.



I noticed the article states that it expects to find hundreds of previously un-noticed n.e.o.s. So i was curious how many there currently are and found this interesting link.


It's a good point, and worth noting...

I've been keeping eye on that number for a couple of years now, and it's been steadily increasing, but there was a massive jump in discoveries made in the last years of the 20th century, and we might see a similar jump in the number with WISE perhaps.

I found this graph:
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/618c82a00c5b.gif[/atsimg]
Source: click here

This graph has more recent data:
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/1c27bbf6055d.jpg[/atsimg]
Source: click here

The above link also has some good info on the hunt for NEOs.



posted on Mar, 6 2010 @ 02:53 AM
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Here is an update of recent WISE near-Earth-asteroid discoveries:

"Dark and dangerous asteroids spotted lurking unseen near Earth's orbit"
story.malaysiasun.com...

Glad they finally got off the distant infrared galaxies, and started looking for Earth-threatening asteroids!



posted on Mar, 6 2010 @ 02:57 AM
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reply to post by Larryman
 

WISE is in the process of performing a full sky survey. It will find both asteroids and deep space objects.



posted on Mar, 6 2010 @ 03:02 AM
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Im interested in this but know very little is this something that could happen in the very near future, i would appreciate any links so i can read more about it.




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