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2000 EM26
Reference material by Wikipedia contributors. This retains its source identity and is not 411 news reporting.
Small near-Earth asteroid
February 2018
yes
2000 EM 26
#FFC2E0
Asteroid2000EM26-NearEarthEncounter-20140217.png
Orbital diagram of 2000 EM 26
LINEAR
Lincoln Laboratory's ETS
5 March 2000(first observation only)
2000 EM 26
NEOAtenPHA
21 November 2025 (JD 2461000.5)
13
20.15 yr (7,358 d)
1.1987 AU
0.4358 AU
0.8172 AU
0.4667
270 days
12.37 km/s
60.561°
1.3341 ms / day
3.8362°
344.91°
24.419°
0.0185 AU LD on
110 m (est. at 0.14)
22.5
2000 EM 26 is a sub-kilometer near-Earth object and potentially hazardous asteroid of the Aten group, approximately 110 m ft off us in diameter. It was first observed by astronomers of the LINEAR program on 5 March 2000 and followed until 14 March 2000, by which time it had dimmed to apparent magnitude 20 and was 40° from the Moon. By 17 March 2000 it was only 4 degrees from a 90% waxing gibbous moon. It has never been listed on the Sentry Risk Table because none of the potential orbital solutions create a risk of impact in the next ~100 years. The asteroid safely passed Earth on 17–18 February 2014. Due to a then-poorly determined orbit, the asteroid may have been significantly further from Earth and dozens of degrees from where the telescope was pointed during the 2014 approach.
Observations
The 2014 approach was broadcast live (YouTube archive) on the Internet at 09:00 pm EST (02:00 UTC), 18 February 2014, by the Slooh community observatory. Slooh's observatory on Mount Teide in Spain's Canary Islands was iced over at the time, so images from the Slooh observatory in Dubai were used to attempt detection of the asteroid. At the time of the broadcast, no obvious image of the asteroid could be seen. Some viewers complained by Twitter that it was boring when the object was never shown in the images, while others said that "boring" was a good outcome for a pass-by.
Orbit
2000 EM 26 is an Aten-family asteroid, and as such is often near the glare of the Sun as the asteroid seldom travels outside Earth's orbit when the Earth is nearby. The orbit was poorly constrained in 2014 since the asteroid had an observation arc of only 9 days creating an orbital uncertainty of 7. Since the asteroid had not been observed since 14 March 2000, the uncertainty region had kept increasing. During the 2014 approach, 17 February 2014 was the first day that the nominal orbit had a solar elongation more than 90 degrees from the Sun making it easier to recover under a dark sky. Using the nominal orbit, the asteroid was expected to have an apparent magnitude of about 16 and pass 0.02 AU km mi on on from Earth. Closest approach (perigee-geocentrical) was around 00:15 UTC on 18 February plus or minus about 13 hours. Even with an observation arc of 9 days, it was known that the minimum possible close approach distance to Earth on 18 February 2014 was 0.018 AU km mi on off with a small chance that the asteroid would pass as far as 0.13 AU km mi on off from Earth. Due to the uncertainty region of the asteroid, the asteroid could have been 75 degrees from the nominal position in the sky on 18 February 2014.
2000 EM 26 was recovered on 24 February 2017 at magnitude 21, extending the observation arc to 17 years. It is now known that 2000 EM 26 passed 0.03665 AU km mi on from Earth on 17 February 2014. In 2020 it was again observed from 22 March till 27 April. Next well observable opposition will be in March/April 2026.
Physical characteristics
With an absolute magnitude of 22.5, the asteroid's diameter is estimated around 80 - 190 m ft off us in diameter, for a range in albedo of 0.27 to 0.05 depending on whether the object is of stony or carbonaceous composition. For a standard albedo of 0.14, it translates to a mean diameter of 110 meters.
See also
List of asteroid close approaches to Earth in 2014
List of asteroid close approaches to Earth
2009 RR
References
30em 2020-04-27 last obs.
JPL Small-Body Database Browser: (2000 EM26)
https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=2000%20EM26
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
8 September 2020
2000 EM26
Minor Planet Center
https://www.minorplanetcenter.net/db_search/show_object?object_id=2000+EM26
8 September 2020
Staff A 270m asteroid is to swing past Earth almost exactly a year after a meteor burst over Russia http://www.heraldsun.com.au/technology/science/a-270m-asteroid-is-to-swing-past-earth-almost-exactly-a-year-after-a-meteor-burst-over-russia/story-fnjwlbuf-1226829178390 16 February 2014 Herald Sun 16 February 2014
Staff Potentially hazardous asteroid 2000 EM26 zipping by Earth on close approach on February 17 http://phys.org/news/2014-02-potentially-hazardous-asteroid-em26-earth.html 14 February 2014 Phys.org 17 February 2014
Kramer Miriam Huge Asteroid to Fly Safely By Earth Monday: Watch It Live https://www.space.com/24704-asteroid-2000-em26-earth-flyby-webcast.html 15 February 2014 Space.com 17 February 2014
Asteroid Size Estimator
CNEOS NASA/JPL
https://cneos.jpl.nasa.gov/tools/ast_size_est.html
8 September 2020
2000EM26 Ephemerides for 1 March 2000 through 1 April 2000
NEODyS (Near Earth Objects Dynamic Site)
https://newton.spacedys.com/neodys/index.php?pc=1.1.3.1&n=2000EM26&oc=500&y0=2000&m0=3&d0=1&h0=0&mi0=0&y1=2000&m1=4&d1=1&h1=0&mi1=0&ti=1.0&tiu=days
https://archive.today/20140222014231/http://newton.dm.unipi.it/neodys/index.php?pc=1.1.3.1&n=2000EM26&oc=500&y0=2000&m0=3&d0=1&h0=0&mi0=0&y1=2000&m1=4&d1=1&h1=0&mi1=0&ti=1.0&tiu=days
22 February 2014
live
21 February 2014
2000EM26 Ephemerides for 16 February 2014 through 21 February 2014
NEODyS (Near Earth Objects Dynamic Site)
https://newton.spacedys.com/neodys/index.php?pc=1.1.3.1&n=2000EM26&oc=500&y0=2014&m0=2&d0=16&h0=0&mi0=0&y1=2014&m1=2&d1=21&h1=0&mi1=0&ti=12.0&tiu=hours
https://archive.today/20140217233948/http://newton.dm.unipi.it/neodys/index.php?pc=1.1.3.1&n=2000EM26&oc=500&y0=2014&m0=2&d0=16&h0=0&mi0=0&y1=2014&m1=2&d1=21&h1=0&mi1=0&ti=12.0&tiu=hours
17 February 2014
live
17 February 2014
Saul Heather Asteroid 2000 EM26 'as big as three football fields' hurtles past Earth https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/asteroid-2000-em26-as-big-as-three-football-fields-hurtles-past-earth-9135450.html https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220501/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/asteroid-2000-em26-as-big-as-three-football-fields-hurtles-past-earth-9135450.html 1 May 2022 subscription 18 February 2014 The Independent 18 February 2014
Weise Elizabeth Monster asteroid whizzes by Earth https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/02/17/asteroid-2000-em26-near-earth-fly-by-february-17/5554945 18 February 2014 USA Today 18 February 2014
Staff Potentially Hazardous Asteroid Zipping by Earth on Close-Approach (video, 57:50) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCFWUemLzM0#t=2037 18 February 2014 YouTube 18 February 2014
MPEC 2017-D78 : 2000 EM26
IAU Minor Planet Center
25 February 2017
https://www.minorplanetcenter.net/mpec/K17/K17D78.html
2018-03-02 (K00E26M)
External links
List Of Aten Minor Planets (by designation), Minor Planet Center
2000+EM26
2000EM26
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