Closest approach of 433 Eros, Jan 31, 2012

[orb]

Universe Today:
Asteroid To Make Closest Approach Since 1975

On Tuesday, January 31, asteroid 433 Eros will come closer to Earth than it has in 37 years, traveling across the night sky in the constellations Leo, Sextans and Hydra. At its closest pass of 16.6 million miles (26.7 million km) the relatively bright 21-mile (34-km) -wide asteroid will be visible with even modest backyard telescopes, approaching magnitude 8, possibly even 7. It hasn’t come this close since 1975, and won’t do so again until 2056!

{...}

 

[RisingFury]

"Closest since 1975" - How much closer is it, then it was in 1975? 1 kilometer?

"Will approach magnitude 8 or even 7" - yea, so what? It does that every close approach. Just because it's closest approach since 1975 doesn't make it any brighter...

Media hype madness...

 

[n122vu]

Very true.

 

[SuprunP]

The point is that those who hadn't known anything about this asteroid were, possibly, drawn in by this heading to read about it and maybe even got excited enough to want to find out more about 433 Eros in particular and astronomy in general, which isn't that bad, is it? :hmm:

 

[bujin]

"Closest since 1975" - How much closer is it, then it was in 1975? 1 kilometer?

"Will approach magnitude 8 or even 7" - yea, so what? It does that every close approach. Just because it's closest approach since 1975 doesn't make it any brighter...

Media hype madness...

I was going to suggest that the article was missing a key ingredient for it to be media hype madness, but then I spotted it in the middle...

Although Eros will be making a “close” approach to Earth on Jan. 31/Feb. 1, there is no danger of a collision.

They have to add that bit into every article because these days the mere mention of the word "asteroid" means Armageddon to the laypublic. Or at least, that's what the media believe.

 

[Codz]

Awesome. It should be nice and close to Mars.

 

[orb]

Astronomers Without Borders: Eros Parallax Project

Universe Today: Help Astronomers Measure the Solar System!

 

[RisingFury]

The point is that those who hadn't known anything about this asteroid were, possibly, drawn in by this heading to read about it and maybe even got excited enough to want to find out more about 433 Eros in particular and astronomy in general, which isn't that bad, is it? :hmm:

The last time Mars was "closer to Earth than it had been for 60 000 years", roumors started going around that it was gonna be as big as the full Moon.

Remember the hype about Supermoon? Did you do the math to actually figure out how much bigger it is, than the average full Moon?

 

[Keatah]

I just love the hype that these stories generate. Good stuff for sci-fi novels and just general entertainment overall.

 

[SuprunP]

The last time Mars was "closer to Earth than it had been for 60 000 years", roumors started going around that it was gonna be as big as the full Moon.

Remember the hype about Supermoon? Did you do the math to actually figure out how much bigger it is, than the average full Moon?

Well... one must really know nothing at all about astronomy to believe that Mars can be as big as the Moon... If one never turned up their eyes to the sky you can expect one to accept everything the media is feeding one with.

As for the maths, yes, I do my own calculations, as I prefer solid facts to rumours.