Twenty Hours Until Impact: The TC3 Event - Part 1 of 5

John J. McCarthy Observatory, New Milford, CT.
Monthly astronomy lecture. February 2009

On the evening of October 5, 2008, Arizona time, Richard Kowalski was
operating the 60-inch telescope on top of Mount Lemmon, just outside
Tucson. The Mount Lemmon Sky Survey looks for new Near Earth Objects.
One of Kowalskis finds that night made history. He sent a report of
it to the Minor Planet Center (MPC) in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

As follow-up observations of the object began to arrive from around
the world, it was quickly seen that this object would hit the Earth
about twenty hours after Kowalskis discovery!

The MPC designated the newly discovered asteroid: 2008 TC3. Twenty-
seven observatories from twelve countries sent 589 observations of the
object to the MPC. Thankfully the object was small, so no damage or
loss of life resulted from its impact, although it produced a
spectacular fireball over Sudan.

Monty Robson presents what is known of this historic happening,
including the confirmations of impact and the McCarthy Observatorys
role in the event.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Astronomy
• Space
• Earth
• McCarthy
• Observatory
• Meteor