Planetary Defense

Missions

Find up-to-the-minute visibilities and deeplinks for Planetary Defense targets on the Moving Target Ephemeris page and the Scientific Events Prediction page

Near-Earth Asteroid Campaigns

3361 (Orpheus)

3361 (Orpheus) is a well-studied, 340 meter diameter, near-Earth asteroid. While we know its orbit well enough to be certain we aren’t in danger, this close approach will be the closest Orpheus has gotten to us in 50 years.
Check out this interloper as it passes by between November 3rd and November 21st.

2019 UT6

Discovered in 2019, asteroid 2019 UT6 is estimated to measure around 200 meters in diameter. On November 25th, this big boulder is come to within ~6 lunar distances of Earth. It will be visible from November 21st to November 24th.

2007 VM187

With a diameter somewhere between 170 and 400 meters, 2007 VM187 could pose a lot of problems if it were to impact Earth. Thankfully it’ll 13 lunar distances away during its close approach on December 1st. You can catch this asteroid as it passes by between November 27th and December 1st.

Eros

Eros is a massive 23km long asteroid. Its very well-studied and there is even a shape model of it. However, lightcurves change over time as the asteroid tumbles through space. We think it would be interesting to compare Eros’s current lightcurve with archival data to see how it’s changed.

NEW HERE?

Head to our Tutorial for guidance on how to master your Unistellar telescope to become a Planetary Guardian. If you have any questions please contact us at citizenscience@unistellaroptics.com.

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