2008 TC3

mp|2008 TC|3 (Catalina Sky Survey temporary designation 8TA9D69) was a meteoroid convert|2|to|5|m|ft|0|sp=us in diameter that entered Earth's atmosphere on October 7, 2008, at 02:46 UTC (5:46 a.m. local time) and burned up without making physical contact with the ground.cite web
url=http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2008/10/06/incoming-2
title=Incoming!!!
last=Plait
first=Phil
publisher=Bad Astronomy
date=2008-10-06
accessdate=2008-10-08]

Discovery

The meteoroid was discovered by an observer at the Catalina Sky Survey (CSS) 1.5 meter telescope at Mount Lemmon, north of Tucson, Arizona, USA, about a day before the impact. [cite web
url=http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/mpec/K08/K08T50.html
last=Williams
first=Gareth V.
title=MPEC 2008-T50
publisher=Minor Planet Center
date=2008-10-06
accessdate=2008-10-08] [cite web
url=http://www.efluxmedia.com/news_Small_Asteroid_Enters_Earths_Atmosphere_26024.html
title=Small Asteroid Enters Earth’s Atmosphere
last=Huntington
first=Jenny
publisher=eFluxMedia
date=2008-10-07
accessdate=2008-10-08]

The meteoroid was notable as the first such body to be observed and tracked prior to reaching Earth. [cite news
url=http://weblogs.marylandweather.com/2008/10/predicted_meteor_may_have_been.html
title=Predicted meteor may have been sighted
first=Frank
last=Roylance
publisher=MarylandWeather
date=2008-10-07
accessdate=2008-10-08] The process of detecting and tracking a near-Earth object, an effort sometimes referred to as Spaceguard, was put to a test. In total, 570 astrometric and almost as many photometric observations were performed in less than 19 hours and reported to the Minor Planet Center, which issued 25 Minor Planet Electronic Circulars with new orbit solutions in eleven hours as observations poured in. Impact predictions were performed by University of Pisa's CLOMON 2 semi-automatic monitoring system [cite web
url=http://newton.dm.unipi.it/cgi-bin/neodys/neoibo?riskpage:0;main
title=NEODys Main Risk Page
accessdate=2008-10-08] [cite web
url=http://newton.dm.unipi.it/cgi-bin/neodys/neoibo?objects:2008TC3;main
title=NEODys mp|2008 TC|3 page
accessdate=2008-10-08] as well as Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Sentry system. Spectral observations were performed by astronomers at the 4.2 meter William Herschel Telescope at La Palma, Canary Islands.

Explosion

The meteoroid, also considered a bolide [cite web
url=http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jOHHF4wcyteiUj5AlJP69dIMb0yA
publisher=AFP
title=Astronomers predict shooting star over Sudan from space boulder
accessdate=2008-10-08] due to its fiery explosion, is confirmed to have entered Earth's atmosphere above northern Sudan at a velocity of convert|12.8|km/s|mi/s. Estimated trajectory has the object coming out of the western sky at an azimuth of 281 degrees, and an altitude angle of 19 degrees to the local horizon.It exploded tens of kilometers above the ground with the energy of around one kiloton of TNT, causing a large fireball in the early morning sky. [cite web
url=http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1071393/Asteroid-hits-Earth--Good-news-Scientists-predicted-Bad-News-Only-hours-burst-atmosphere.html
publisher=dailymail.co.uk
title=Asteroid hits Earth... Good news: Scientists predicted it. Bad News: Only six hours before it burst into our atmosphere
date=2008-10-07
accessdate=2008-10-08] Very few people inhabit the remote area of the Nubian Desert where the explosion took place; "The Times", however, reported that the meteoroid's "light was so intense that it lit up the sky like a full moon and an airliner 1,400 km (870 miles) away reported seeing the bright flash." [cite web
url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/weather/article4902427.ece
title=Weather Eye: NASA spots asteroid before annihilation
last=Simon
first=Paul
publisher=timesonline.co.uk
date=2008-10-08
accessdate=2008-10-08] A low-resolution image of the explosion was captured by the weather satellite Meteosat 8.cite web
url=http://www.spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=08&month=10&year=2008
title=ASTEROID IMPACT
publisher=SpaceWeather.com
date=2008-10-08
accessdate=2008-10-08] The Meteosat images place the fireball at 21.00 N, 32.15 E.cite web
url=http://www.eumetsat.int/groups/ops/documents/image/img_asteroid_impact_hrv.jpg
title=m8 HRV 200810070245
date=2008-10-08
accessdate=2008-10-08] Infrasound detector arrays in Kenya also detected a sound wave from the direction of the expected impact corresponding to energy of 1.1 to 2.1 kilotons of TNT.cite web
url=http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news160.html
title=Impact of Asteroid mp|2008 TC|3 Confirmed
publisher=NASA Near Earth Object Program
date=2008-10-07
accessdate=2008-10-08] Meteoroids of this size hit Earth about two or three times a year. [cite web
url=http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081006/ap_on_sc/sci_falling_asteroid;_ylt=Ao8MS8NhOgv57dQPGG8NY6hvieAA
title=Small asteroid headed for light show over Africa
last=Borenstein
first=Seth
publisher=Yahoo! News
date=2008-10-06
accessdate=2008-10-08]

The trajectory showed intersection with Earth's surface at roughly 20.3° north, 33.5° east, [cite web
url=http://mkvh.de/ast/serendipity/index.php?/archives/9-Very-near-NEO-Meteoroid-impact-!.html
title=Very near NEO Meteoroid impact!
author="Mike"
date=2008-10-06
publisher=MKVH.de] though the object was expected to break up perhaps 100–200 kilometers west as it descended, somewhat east of the Nile River, and about 100 kilometers south of the Egypt–Sudan border.

References

External links

Externalimage
align=right
width=300px

http://www.efluxmedia.com/content/news/news_26007.jpgAn image of mp|2008 TC|3]

http://media.skyandtelescope.com/images/2008TC3-Short-2.gifAnimation of mp|2008 TC|3]

* [http://spaceweather.com/submissions/large_image_popup.php?
]
* [http://www.tng.iac.es/gallery/tng/images/2008TC3.gifTelescopio Nazionale Galileo photograph of 2008 TC3]
* [http://orbit.psi.edu/?q=node/22 Animation of impact from the asteroid's point of view] (Pasquale Tricarico of the Planetary Science Institute)
* [http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news159.html News bulletin from NASA Near Earth Object Program]
* [http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2008/10/07/article-1071393-02EDA06900000578-746_224x423_popup.jpgImpact Trajectory on October 7, 2008]
* [http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2008/10/07/article-1071393-02ED9E0B00000578-992_224x423.jpgCircled, the object caught on camera as it sped towards Earth]
* [http://www.planetary.org/blog/article/00001684/ The full story of Earth-impacting asteroid mp|2008 TC|3] by Emily Lakdawalla (The Planetary Society Blog)
* [http://www.slooh.com/blog/2008-tc3-a-serendipitous-event/ 2008 TC3: A Serendipitous Event] by Tavi Greiner (The Slooh SkyLog)