Asteroid 2012 DA14 Flyby

On February 15th/16th the asteroid 2012 DA14 will fly past the Earth at a distance of only 34000 km (inside the ring of geostationary satellites). At a maximum magnitude of about 7.4 it will not be visible to the naked eye, but should be visible through binoculars if you know where to look and live in the right part of the world.

You can change the settings below to get the best chart for your location. If the chart shows only the Sun and no stars, then you have selected a central time during the daylight hours. If the track is not visible at all, then the asteroid is not visible from zour location. The best locations are in Asia (India, China) and the further away you are from here, the worse the visibility will be. Observers in North America are out of luck this time.

Central time for sky chart and table

Year Month Day Time

Time period to extend table and track either side of central time hours. (max. 6)

Dimmest stars are magnitude +5. Click on the chart to zoom in on that part of the sky

Table of positions for your location

Time	Distance (km)	Brightness	Altitude	Right ascension	Declination	Constellation
Feb 15, 13:30:00	152,054	12.2	-52.4°	4^h 14^m	-85° 49'	Octans
Feb 15, 14:00:00	140,759	11.9	-53.4°	5^h 36^m	-86° 18'	Octans
Feb 15, 14:30:00	129,502	11.7	-54.6°	7^h 21^m	-86° 10'	Octans
Feb 15, 15:00:00	118,295	11.5	-56.1°	8^h 55^m	-85° 10'	Octans
Feb 15, 15:30:00	107,156	11.2	-57.7°	9^h 58^m	-83° 21'	Octans
Feb 15, 16:00:00	96,113	10.8	-59.5°	10^h 38^m	-80° 47'	Chamaeleon
Feb 15, 16:30:00	85,214	10.5	-61.2°	11^h 4^m	-77° 22'	Chamaeleon
Feb 15, 17:00:00	74,534	10.1	-62.2°	11^h 22^m	-72° 53'	Musca
Feb 15, 17:30:00	64,211	9.6	-61.8°	11^h 35^m	-66° 52'	Musca
Feb 15, 18:00:00	54,490	9.0	-58.4°	11^h 44^m	-58° 37'	Centaurus
Feb 15, 18:30:00	45,833	8.4	-50.4°	11^h 52^m	-47° 2'	Centaurus
Feb 15, 19:00:00	39,072	7.7	-36.5°	11^h 58^m	-30° 53'	Hydra
Feb 15, 19:30:00	35,474	7.3	-16.9°	12^h 4^m	-10° 0'	Virgo
Feb 15, 20:00:00	36,125	7.4	4.8°	12^h 11^m	12° 25'	Virgo
Feb 15, 20:30:00	40,832	7.9	23.3°	12^h 17^m	31° 36'	Coma Berenices
Feb 15, 21:00:00	48,357	8.6	36.6°	12^h 23^m	45° 43'	Canes Venatici
Feb 15, 21:30:00	57,529	9.2	45.6°	12^h 30^m	55° 39'	Ursa Major
Feb 15, 22:00:00	67,622	9.7	51.5°	12^h 37^m	62° 42'	Ursa Major
Feb 15, 22:30:00	78,240	10.2	55.2°	12^h 45^m	67° 51'	Draco
Feb 15, 23:00:00	89,167	10.5	57.6°	12^h 53^m	71° 42'	Draco
Feb 15, 23:30:00	100,283	10.9	58.9°	13^h 1^m	74° 41'	Draco
Feb 16, 00:00:00	111,515	11.2	59.6°	13^h 10^m	77° 2'	Camelopardalis
Feb 16, 00:30:00	122,820	11.5	59.9°	13^h 19^m	78° 55'	Camelopardalis
Feb 16, 01:00:00	134,171	11.7	59.8°	13^h 29^m	80° 27'	Camelopardalis
Feb 16, 01:30:00	145,550	11.9	59.6°	13^h 40^m	81° 42'	Camelopardalis

Flyby data (relative to centre of Earth)
Time of closest approach	15/02/2013 19:25:49
Distance of closest approach	34,100km
Speed at closest approach	7.818km/s
Speed at infinity	6.143km/s