Movie, made with real photos, of asteroid 2008 TC3 on approach to Earth

Posted By Emily Lakdawalla

2008/10/06 08:24 CDT

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Coolness: here's an animation of several images of 2008 TC3, captured by G. Sostero, E. Guido, V. Gonano, and P. Camilleri at the Remanzacco Observatory just a few hours before it was to hit. Sostero was one of the winners of one of the Society's 2007 Shoemaker NEO grants -- I wonder if the equipment that our members bought with his $4,400 prize was used to obtain these images?

n other news, someone pointed out that observing conditions may not be as clear in Sudan as satellite pictures would indicate. A fellow named Abdurrahman Jaafar Idris posted today this amazing video showing a massive sandstorm that had apparently already engulfed Khartoum and was headed toward his residence of Omdurman yesterday. Yikes.

2008 TC3 enters eclipse in less than half an hour, so time's running out to observe it before the fireworks start...