Asteroid 2006 VV2 is coming for a visit

William Atkins
Wednesday, 28 March 2007 20:00

Science - Space

Its closest approach is on March 31st where it will be just under nine times the distance between the Moon and the Earth, about 3.4 million kilometers. The Earth and Moon are about 385,000 kilometers (240,000 miles) apart.

Observers should be able to see it through small telescopes as it becomes a 10th magnitude asteroid while racing across the sky through the constellation Leo between March 31st and April 1st. Asteroids are also called minor planets or planetoids--that is, a rock that drifts in space as it orbits around the Sun.

The asteroid is estimated to be about two kilometers (1.2 miles) in diameter. There’s a small chance that it may consist of two asteroids, or a binary system.

Asteroid 2006 VV2 was discovered by the LINEAR program from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) on November 11, 2006, at White Sands Missile Range in Socorro, New Mexico. Due to its close approach to the Earth, 2006 VV2 is classified as a “Potentially Hazardous Asteroid” by the Minor Planet Center.

The home Web page of the Minor Planet Center is: http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/mpc.html.

Additional information about Asteroid 2006 VV2 is found at:

NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory: http://echo.jpl.nasa.gov/asteroids/2006VV2/html/2006VV2_planning.html.

Harvard University: http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/Ephemerides/Unusual/K06V02V.html.