{"id":42471,"date":"2012-10-30T10:39:10","date_gmt":"2012-10-30T14:39:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/?p=42471"},"modified":"2019-06-07T13:56:18","modified_gmt":"2019-06-07T17:56:18","slug":"whizzing-asteroid-turns-rocket-scientists-heads","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/whizzing-asteroid-turns-rocket-scientists-heads\/","title":{"rendered":"Whizzing Asteroid Turns Rocket Scientists’ Heads"},"content":{"rendered":"

International leaders in asteroid and comet research are gathering at the University of Central Florida in Orlando Friday, Feb. 15, for a special \u201cviewing party\u201d that will climax with asteroid 2012 DA14 zipping between Earth and orbiting communication satellites (within 14,000 miles of Earth).<\/p>\n

The asteroid, the size of a city block, will squeeze by Earth\u2019s atmosphere and the geostationary satellites orbiting the planet. It will be the closest fly by in history. To see animation click here<\/a> .<\/p>\n

Experts say there is no chance the asteroid will hit Earth — this time. But with more than 4,700 asteroids NASA has identified as potential threats to Earth, some as big as 16 football fields, these objects are getting a lot of attention.<\/p>\n

Humberto Campins, a UCF physics professor who led the first team to discover water ice on an asteroid in 2010, says the asteroids provide clues to the early formation of the solar system and should interest the entire community because they can be hazards as well as resources.<\/p>\n

Campins is working on NASA and European Space Agency missions launching in the next few years to recover asteroid samples<\/p>\n

Should an asteroid be detected on a collision course with Earth, it will be critical to know its composition and structure in order to deflect it. The impact of a small asteroid like DA 14 would equal the destructive power of an atomic bomb. A larger asteroid could be catastrophic.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why Campins and the planetary scientists at UCF organized this free Viewing Party and invited leaders in this asteroid research to speak to the public about the reality and myths of these ancient rocks on Feb. 15. UCF and the Florida Space Institute are sponsoring this event.<\/p>\n

Confirmed speakers include Dr. Michael F. A\u2019Hearn<\/strong>, the scientist who led NASA\u2019s Deep Impact<\/strong> mission, which launched the first man-made object into the nucleus of a comet, and Dr. Harold Reitsema<\/strong>, a former NASA scientist who is part of the B612 Foundation\u2019s<\/a>\u00a0 private effort to launch a telescope that will locate and track asteroids that could hit Earth. The scientists will talk about why asteroid research is so vital to Earth and the new NASA and private efforts to track them.<\/p>\n

The public also will get a chance to see the fly-by through exclusive live feeds from telescopes in La Sagra and Tenerife, Spain, where the astronomers who first discovered DA 14 will be tracking it. Live feeds from Majorca and other observatories are also planned. Astrophysicist and asteroid expert Dr. Javier Licandro, of the Institute of Astrophysics of the Canaries in Tenerife, Spain, also will provide some commentary. Licandro and Campins regularly collaborate on research projects.<\/p>\n

Members of the media are invited to attend UCF\u2019s Asteroid Viewing Party from noon to 3:30 p.m. on Feb. 15.\u00a0 Save the date and visit http:\/\/news.cos.ucf.edu<\/a> beginning Nov. 15 for details and to register.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"International leaders in asteroid and comet research are gathering at the University of Central Florida in Orlando Friday, Feb. 15, for a special \u201cviewing party\u201d that will climax with asteroid 2012 DA14 zipping between Earth and orbiting communication satellites (within 14,000 miles of Earth). The asteroid, the size of a city block, will squeeze by Earth\u2019s atmosphere and the geostationary…","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":42474,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"template-twocol.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"lazy_load_responsive_images_disabled":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[1775,8843,2229,8842,3715,3729,4361,202],"tu_author":[],"class_list":["post-42471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science-technology","tag-florida-space-instit","tag-harold-reitsema","tag-humberto-campins","tag-michael-f-ahearn","tag-physics","tag-planetary-sciences","tag-space","tag-alumni"],"yoast_head":"\nWhizzing Asteroid Turns Rocket Scientists' Heads | University of Central Florida News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"International leaders in asteroid and comet research are gathering at the University of Central Florida in Orlando Friday, Feb. 15, for a special \u201cviewing\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/whizzing-asteroid-turns-rocket-scientists-heads\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Whizzing Asteroid Turns Rocket Scientists' Heads\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"International leaders in asteroid and comet research are gathering at the University of Central Florida in Orlando Friday, Feb. 15, for a special \u201cviewing\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/whizzing-asteroid-turns-rocket-scientists-heads\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"University of Central Florida News | UCF Today\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/UCF\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-10-30T14:39:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-06-07T17:56:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/20\/files\/2012\/10\/deepimpact.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"471\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"471\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Zenaida Kotala\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@UCF\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@UCF\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Zenaida Kotala\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/whizzing-asteroid-turns-rocket-scientists-heads\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/whizzing-asteroid-turns-rocket-scientists-heads\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Zenaida Kotala\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4f0fdedfa744a8bfddd06132e6ce9b5e\"},\"headline\":\"Whizzing Asteroid Turns Rocket Scientists’ Heads\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-10-30T14:39:10+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-06-07T17:56:18+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/whizzing-asteroid-turns-rocket-scientists-heads\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":483,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/whizzing-asteroid-turns-rocket-scientists-heads\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/blogs.dir\\\/20\\\/files\\\/2012\\\/10\\\/deepimpact.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Florida Space institute\",\"Harold Reitsema\",\"Humberto Campins\",\"Michael F. 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