[neo_followup] {MPML} A10sHcN = really close, but missed

[Tony Dunn]

Here's a few animations.
https://twitter.com/tony873004/status/1327699921462386688

On Sat, Nov 14, 2020 at 10:31 AM Bill J. Gray <pluto at projectpluto.com>
wrote:

> Hello all,
>
>     ATLAS got this object last night,  already on its way back
> to interplanetary space,  with an orbit that showed it had
> missed us by at most a couple of thousand kilometers.  With
> follow-up from (Q70) Glenlee Observatory in Queensland,
> Australia,  and a couple of detections dug out from (I41)
> ZTF data,  we have q=6752 +/- 13 km :
>
> https://www.projectpluto.com/xfer/a10shcn.htm
>
>     At its closest,  at 17:19 UTC,  the object was about
> 373 km over French Polynesia.  The flyby changed its orbit
> from one roughly between Earth and Mars (q=0.99 AU,
> Q=1.64 AU) to one roughly between Earth and Venus
> (q=0.723 AU,  Q=1.092 AU).  Hope its inhabitants like
> warm weather.
>
>     I briefly thought this might be a newly-launched
> interplanetary artsat.  When they're launched,  they usually
> have perigees just outside the earth's atmosphere,  and this
> is a perfect match for that.  However,  this object would
> have been launched retrograde (relative to the earth),  at
> an inclination of about 128 degrees.  That would be a huge
> waste of fuel and,  as far as I know,  has never actually
> happened.
>
>     It's currently down around mag 19,  and still on NEOCP.
> I assume we'll see some more data come in for it over the
> next day or so.
>
> -- Bill
>
>
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