Impact of 2008 TC3 asteroid in 07/10/2008

[APODman]

This is the simulation for the impact of the asteroid 2008 TC3 at 2008/10/07, 10:46 p.m in Sudan. This is the first impact of an asteroid predicted in advance !

 
More info here:
- http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news159.html
- http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/css/2008TC3.html
- http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/081006-asteroid-sudan.html

[APODman]

Th first confirmation of the impact of the asteroid:

ASTEROID IMPACT: Asteroid 2008 TC3 hit Earth this morning (Oct. 7th at 0243 UT), exploding in the atmosphere over northern Sudan like a kiloton of TNT. Most of the 3-meter-wide asteroid should have been vaporized in the atmosphere with only small pieces reaching the ground as meteorites. So far, no pictures of the fireball have been submitted; the impact occured in a remote area with few (and possibly no) onlookers capable of recording the event. Nevertheless, the asteroid did strike Earth as predicted.

This confirming report comes from Jacob Kuiper, General Aviation meteorologist at the National Weather Service in the Netherlands: "Half an hour before the predicted impact of asteroid 2008 TC3, I informed an official of Air-France-KLM at Amsterdam airport about the possibility that crews of their airliners in the vicinity of impact would have a chance to see a fireball. And it was a success! I have received confirmation that a KLM airliner, roughly 750 nautical miles southwest of the predicted atmospheric impact position, has observed a short flash just before the expected impact time 0246 UTC. Because of the distance it was not a very large phenomenon, but still a confirmation that some bright meteor has been seen in the predicted direction. Projected on an infrared satellite-image of Meteosat-7 of 0300 UTC, I have indicated the position of the plane (+) and the predicted impact area in Sudan (0)."

2008 TC3 was discovered on Oct. 6th by astronomers using the Mt. Lemmon telescope in Arizona as part of the NASA-funded Catalina Sky Survey for near-Earth objects. Asteroids the size of 2008 TC3 hit Earth every few months, but this is the first time one has been discovered before it hit.

reference: http://www.spaceweather.com/


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[Dan Dixon]

You beat me to it... Creating this simulation was on my list of things to do today.

Good times.