Thursday, September 04, 2014

Near-Earth asteroid flyby this weekend


Source - Space Weather News for Sept. 4, 2014: http://spaceweather.com

ASTEROID FLYBY:  On Sunday, Sept. 7th, a house-sized asteroid  named "2014 RC" will fly through the Earth-Moon system approximately 40,000 km from our planet. At closest approach,  the space rock will be almost inside the orbit of Earth's geosynchronous satellites.  Amateur astronomers, especially those in the southern hemisphere, may be able to observe the flyby.

Check http://spaceweather.com for more information.

AURORA WATCH: On Sept. 6th, a day before the asteroid flyby, a  CME is expected to deliver a glancing blow to Earth's magnetic field, setting the stage for a nice display of high-latitude auroras.  Geomagnetic storm alerts are available from http://spaceweathertext.com (text) and http://spaceweatherphone.com (voice).

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