2006-07-29 14:13:51 · 5 answers · asked by lowiq 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
I suspect you may mean the asteroid that came within 26,000 miles of earth in 2004?
2004 FH is a near-Earth asteroid that was discovered on March 15, 2004 by the NASA-funded LINEAR asteroid survey. The object is roughly 30 metres in diameter and passed just 43,000 km (26,000 miles) above the Earth's surface on March 18, 2004 at 22:08 UTC; making it the second closest approach to Earth ever recorded at the time. For comparison, geostationary satellites orbit Earth at 35,790 km.
Despite its relatively small size (about 30 metres), it is still the third largest asteroid detected coming closer to the Earth than the Moon.
The asteroid will not make another close approach to Earth until 2044 when it will be no closer than 1.4 Gm (1.4 million kilometres).
I cannot find any reference to this object being renamed, though. There was another, larger asteroid that came within 1 million miles of earth in 2004, with a name.
Asteroid Toutatis is about 2.9 miles long and 1.5 miles wide (4.6 by 2.4 kilometers).
On September 29, 2004 Toutatis was within a million miles of Earth, or about four times the distance to the Moon.
Due to its very low orbital inclination (0.47°) and its orbital period of very nearly 4 years, Toutatis makes frequent close approaches to Earth, with a minimum distance at present of just 0.006 AU (2.3 times as far as the Moon). The approach on September 29, 2004 was particularly close, at 0.0104 AU (within 4 lunar distances) from Earth, presenting a good opportunity for observation. The next approach after that will be November 9, 2008 at 0.0503 AU.
Have you confused the two, possibly?
2006-07-29 14:26:37 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 5⤊ 0⤋
Newly discovered asteroids are given a provisional designation consisting of the year of discovery and an alphanumeric code, such as 2001 FH. When its orbit is confirmed, it is given a number, and later may also be given a name (e.g. 1 Ceres).
Which asteroid discovered in 2004 are you asking about?
2006-07-29 21:46:20 · answer #2 · answered by aka DarthDad 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
We will name it with a meaningful name !
"Ponnaya"
2006-07-30 00:38:21 · answer #3 · answered by R G 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
his name was Robert Paulson!!
2006-07-29 22:37:54 · answer #4 · answered by daliance 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
huh?
2006-07-29 21:15:47 · answer #5 · answered by tedward the dead turtle 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋