The half-mile-wide flying mountain called 1999 AN10 will next year on August 7 make the closest known whizz past Earth – only just beyond the Moon’s distance – of any large object that did not actually hit (like the one that doomed the dinosaurs 66 million years ago). We had time to get it onto the August page of Astronomical Calendar 2027, with description and chart; we’ll have updates later, and here is a space view of its 1.76-year orbit and (in red) its path in 2027.
The dashed line with ram’s-horns symbol is the vernal equinox direction (longitude zero). The Earth is exaggerated 500 times in size, the Sun only 5. Stalks to the ecliptic plane are at the beginnings of months.
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This weblog maintains its right to be about astronomy or anything under the sun.
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