Re: new toy on web [OT unless you're into orbital calculationstu ff] [CLEAN STAMP]

Rick Rutherford wrote:
> 
> That's REALLY cool!
> 
> Is there any chance of seeing any of these objects when they get
close?
> For example, asteroid 4179 "Toutatis" (1989 AC) will get to about
> 10 million km away from earth on Halloween this year -- could we see
> it in the sky?

It's albedo (surface brightness reflectivity) is extremely low, so it'll
prolly depend on the size of your telescope.  ;-)

(and no, HST will NOT be looking at it during closest approach - the
tracking mechanism on the 'scope is far too fragile and slow to keep
up with a moving target of that speed that close; long before or long
after the closest approach is a different matter altogether, but will
depend on other factors)

Mk