------------------------------------------------------------------- THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 2243 2006 Jly 02 17.44UT Ed:Guy M Hurst, 16,Westminster Close, Kempshott Rise, Basingstoke, Hants, RG22 4PP,England.Telephone/FAX(01256)471074Int:+441256471074 INTERNET: GUY@TAHQ.DEMON.CO.UK Backup: gmh@wdcc1.bnsc.rl.ac.uk WORLD WIDE WEB http://www.theastronomer.org ------------------------------------------------------------------- 2004 XP14 The Apollo asteroid 2004 XP14, discovered on 2004 Dec 10 by LINEAR, will make a close approach to the Earth on 2006 July 3/4 and become a comfortable object to detect with medium-sized telescopes. According to the Central Bureau/Minor Planet Centre WWW pages of Potentially Hazardous Asteroids (PHAs) the closest approach will be on 2006 July 3.18UT at 0.002891AU, this based on two oppositions, 2004-2006. (ref. E2006-E49). It should be stressed that there is no danger to the Earth as the closest distance is similar to the distance to our Moon. It is the ninth known closest asteroidal approach to the Earth until 2176 for which further details can be found at: http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/lists/PHACloseApp.html It is advisable to generate an ephemeris for your own site because of parallax considerations by visiting: http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/MPEph/MPEph.html However as a preliminary guide the following ephemeris is for the station of Greenwich (code 000): Date UT R.A. (J2000) Decl. Delta r El. mag 2006 07 03 000000 03 24 10.2 +05 53 43 0.0034 1.015 51.7 12.6 2006 07 03 020000 03 07 28.6 +18 30 25 0.0031 1.015 51.4 12.4 2006 07 03 040000 02 42 49.2 +33 34 19 0.0029 1.015 54.2 12.0 2006 07 03 060000 02 04 54.5 +48 48 01 0.0029 1.015 60.5 11.6 2006 07 03 080000 01 05 53.8 +61 05 49 0.0032 1.015 68.0 11.3 2006 07 03 100000 23 40 46.8 +68 36 25 0.0037 1.016 74.7 11.2 2006 07 03 120000 22 04 01.1 +71 24 49 0.0043 1.016 79.9 11.2 2006 07 03 140000 20 43 35.8 +71 11 47 0.0049 1.016 83.8 11.3 2006 07 03 160000 19 47 56.9 +69 44 59 0.0056 1.016 86.7 11.5 2006 07 03 180000 19 10 31.4 +68 00 33 0.0063 1.017 89.0 11.7 2006 07 03 200000 18 44 29.0 +66 18 20 0.0071 1.017 90.8 11.8 2006 07 03 220000 18 25 38.7 +64 43 41 0.0079 1.017 92.2 12.0 2006 07 04 000000 18 11 39.0 +63 17 37 0.0086 1.017 93.4 12.1 2006 07 04 020000 18 01 06.7 +62 00 03 0.0094 1.017 94.5 12.3 2006 07 04 040000 17 53 07.7 +60 50 55 0.010 1.018 95.4 12.4 2006 07 04 060000 17 47 02.8 +59 50 04 0.011 1.018 96.2 12.6 2006 07 04 080000 17 42 20.9 +58 57 17 0.012 1.018 96.9 12.7 2006 07 04 100000 17 38 36.9 +58 12 01 0.013 1.018 97.5 12.8 2006 07 04 120000 17 35 30.5 +57 33 25 0.013 1.019 97.9 12.9 2006 07 04 140000 17 32 46.6 +57 00 20 0.014 1.019 98.3 13.0 2006 07 04 160000 17 30 15.5 +56 31 31 0.015 1.019 98.7 13.2 2006 07 04 180000 17 27 52.2 +56 05 42 0.016 1.019 98.9 13.3 2006 07 04 200000 17 25 35.7 +55 41 48 0.017 1.020 99.2 13.4 2006 07 04 220000 17 23 28.3 +55 19 05 0.018 1.020 99.4 13.4 2006 07 05 000000 17 21 33.1 +54 57 11 0.018 1.020 99.7 13.5 2006 07 05 020000 17 19 53.0 +54 36 06 0.019 1.020 99.9 13.6 2006 07 05 040000 17 18 29.5 +54 16 05 0.020 1.020 100.1 13.7 2006 07 05 060000 17 17 21.9 +53 57 31 0.021 1.021 100.3 13.8 2006 07 05 080000 17 16 27.4 +53 40 42 0.022 1.021 100.5 13.9 2006 07 05 100000 17 15 41.8 +53 25 49 0.023 1.021 100.7 13.9 2006 07 05 120000 17 15 00.7 +53 12 49 0.023 1.021 100.8 14.0 Roger Dymock advises a finder chart is available at the ARPS website at: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/roger.dymock/index.htm Guy M Hurst