http://cwis.livjm.ac.uk/jmunews/final/story.asp?ref=200403240943360266521600000000
Near-Earth Asteroid JMU World (England) March 24, 2004 Liverpool Telescope Images The Liverpool Telescope - one of the world's largest robotic telescopes - captured outstanding images of the asteroid that made the closest-ever recorded approach to Earth without actually entering our atmosphere. Asteroid 2004FH, approximately 30 metres/100 feet wide, passed within 43,000km of the Earth last week on 18th March 2004. The Liverpool Telescope, a world-class research telescope sited in La Palma, Canary Islands, was in a very good position to observe the asteroid as its closest approach was over the South Atlantic, giving scientists unprecedented opportunities to study a near-Earth-asteroid close up. The Liverpool Telescope, designed and built by Telescope Technologies Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of JMU, is robotically controlled by the University's internationally respected Astrophysics Research Institute. JMU's astronomers believe that the Liverpool Telescope made the best observations of the asteroid and the data will now be used to refine the asteroid's orbit. The flexible schedule of the Liverpool Telescope meant that after being alerted by Alan Fitzsimmons from Queens University Belfast, Liverpool Telescope staffs on site in La Palma (Robert Smith, Jon Marchant, Alan Scott and Stuart Bates) were able to track the asteroid at short notice, obtaining the attached image. In this 5 second exposure the fast moving asteroid can be seen as the long trail entering the frame from the left. ______________________________________________ Meteorite-list mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
