2012 DA14--Coming Soon to a Planet Near You!

Air Date: 02/11/2013
Run Time: 28:50

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Guests:

Amy Mainzer, NEOWISE Principal Investigator, Jet Propulsion Lab
Timothy Spahr, Director, Minor Planet Center, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Lindley Johnson, , NASA
Edward Beshore, OSIRIS REx Deputy Principal Investigator, University of Arizona, Tucson

Topics: podcasts and videos, interview, Bill Nye, Planetary Radio, Shoemaker NEO Grants, radar imaging, asteroids, near-Earth asteroids, OSIRIS-REx, amateur astronomers, WISE, astronomy

The 45-meter Near Earth Asteroid flies by on February 15. In a recent media briefing, NASA assembled asteroid experts to discuss it and others of its threatening kind. Bill Nye adds his comments about the big space rock, while Bruce Betts provides 2012 DA14 Random Space Facts. Emily Lakdawalla is looking down on Earth through Landsat, and back at the Galileo mission to Jupiter.NOTE THE LINK TO THE NEW WHAT'S UP! CONTEST ENTRY FORM BELOW.

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Trivia Contest

This week's prize is a Planetary Radio T-Shirt!

This week's question:
Hey, listeners! According to La Sagra Observatory's Jaime Nomen, where was the discoverer of 2012 DA14 when the discovery was made?

To submit your answer:
Complete the contest entry form at http:planetary.org/radiocontest no later than Monday, February 18, at 2pm Pacific Time.

Last week's question:
In Earth years, how long is a Sedna year?

Answer:
The answer will be revealed next week.

Question from the week before:
What is the largest known Near Earth Asteroid? (Defined as those that come within 1.3 AU of the Sun.)

Answer:
Asteroid 1036 Ganymed is 32 kilometers in diameter.

Comments:

No trivia contest spoilers please!

David Gash: 02/12/2013 02:22 CST

great show as always Mat

Bill Golisch: 02/12/2013 02:58 CST

The link to the DA14 NASA briefing last week just shows the slides to the talk. The audio is at http://www.nasa.gov/topics/solarsystem/features/asteroidflyby.html Note that although PlanRad pronounced Mainzer as "MAINzur", in her presentation Amy (who should know) says "MINEzur".