Celestia Forums

I would like to see what happens in 2029, when this asteroid is passing earth.

I was tweaking the asteroid.ssc file and here's a picture of 2004 MN4 passing by the Earth and Moon....the .ssc data is as follows...
(I changed the Epoch and MeanAnomaly settings all else is the same.)

"2004 MN4" "Sol"
{
Class "asteroid"
Texture "asteroid.jpg"
Mesh "asteroid.cms"
Radius 0.3 # table lookup using H

EllipticalOrbit
{
Epoch 2462240.45833335
SemiMajorAxis 0.921967219665289
Eccentricity 0.191180663794791
Inclination 3.33359343937302
AscendingNode 204.574143941611
ArgOfPericenter 126.181608613875
MeanAnomaly 252.238572725691
Period 0.885264848990
}

InfoURL "http://newton.dm.unipi.it/cgi-bin/neodys/neoibo?objects:2004MN4;main"

# Period= = a**1.5 = sqrt(a**3)
# 323.3490337253 days
# http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/db?name=2004+MN4

}

One more photo...

Some estimates now show that the approach will be close enough that the Earth will effect the asteriod's orbit. (I suppose if it impacts Earth that would be considered a change in orbit as well.) The above adjustments to the .ssc file simulates an approach of about 83000 km...

According to a news report issued two months ago by the Near Earth Objects (NEO) Program page, asteroid 2004 MN4 will now pass within 36,350 km of the center of Earth on April 13, 2029, or about 30,000 km above its surface (18,600 milies). Here is the updated position report.

http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/

2004 MN4's diameter is estimated at 320 meters. It will be traveling along at a speed of about 7.5 km/sec, based upon that site's calculations.

Perhaps someone can update the ssc file above to reflect the new position. I'm not sure how to do it.

Regards,

Frank G

Keep in mind that an EllipticalOrbit can't show the effects of Earth's gravity during the close aproach.

Hank

These .ssc coordinates get you to 34,000 km...published on the following site...

http://newton.dm.unipi.it/cgi-bin/neodys/neoibo?objects:2004MN4;main

"2004 MN4" "Sol" # Approaches Earth within 34,000km on 04/13-14/2029{
Class "asteroid"
Texture "asteroid.jpg"
Mesh "asteroid.cms"
Radius 0.3 # table lookup using H

EllipticalOrbit
{
Epoch 2462240.45833335
SemiMajorAxis 0.922384
Eccentricity 0.191047
Inclination 3.331
AscendingNode 204.472
ArgOfPericenter 126.384
MeanAnomaly 252.098572725691
Period 0.885264848990
}

Again only the epoch and mean anomaly were changed in order to be acurate around the time of the encounter.

I've viewed this thread with interest because its something I've played with as well.Using the elements provided by jromer I get a display of a close approach(~85k kilometers) on 4/14/29.However I have two questions:what is the best way to show the earth(moon too?)and the asteroid in the same frame?After much trial and error I got a view showing botnh mn4 and earth but it's not as compelling as the posted screenshots.My second(more serious)question is about orbital dynamics.Can anyone tell me which parameter(s)would have to vary and by how much to produce an impact with the earth?

Can someone create or post how to create the 2004 mn04.ssc file ?
Thanks

http://www.lepp.cornell.edu/~seb/celest ... meris.html

might help.

I used an impact calculator to see what would happen if it impacted in a head-on collision. What did I end up with ; not a hell of a lot .
I ended up with something that's even inaudible from 1 km, and the crater was only 50 metres in diametre.

Based on JPL Spice data and Satellite Tool Kit analysis, the closest point of approach for this asteroid is: 19,888.33km on April 13th, 2029 13:52:2
18 PST. That's just about at the orbit of our GPS satellites and well within the GEO belt.