This view of the constellations Orion and Taurus shows the track of near-Earth asteroid 2015 TB145 from 9pm GMT on 30 October to 5am GMT on 31 October as seen from the centre of the British Isles. Despite the glow of a nearby 18-day-old waning gibbous Moon, 2015 TB145 is predicted to be bright enough to be seen in telescopes of 6-inch aperture and larger. See below for a 10x enlargement for telescope users. AN graphic by Ade Ashford.Four hundred-metre-wide asteroid 2015 TB145 passes just 302,500 miles (486,800 kilometres) or 1.3 lunar distances away from Earth on the evening of Saturday, 31 October 2015. There is no fear of a collision, but this is the closest approach by a known object this large until asteroid 1999 AN10 (800 metres in size) approaches at about 1 lunar distance (238,000 miles from Earth) in August 2027. According to predictions, Apollo-class asteroid 2015 TB145 could exceed 11th magnitude at its brightest on the evening of Saturday, 31 October as it passes closest to Earth at 5pm GMT.
Observing 2015 TB145 from the UK 30-31 October
As seen from the British Isles, the asteroid should therefore be within range of 6-inch aperture telescopes and larger from the onset of darkness on Friday, 30 October through to dawn twilight the following morning, despite the glow of a gibbous Moon in the sky. UK-based observers can then locate it again as darkness falls on Saturday night through to about 9pm GMT.
For observers with telescope mounts equipped with digital setting circles or computerised GoTo instruments, the following table lists J2000.0 topocentric coordinates of asteroid 2015 TB145 at hourly intervals for the centre of the British Isles. Since the asteroid is passing so close to Earth, there will be a small parallax displacement for those observers widely separated from the heart the UK.If you feel confident at using charts at the telescope, what follows is a ten-times enlargement of the naked-eye finder chart at the top of the page. Click the graphic for a greyscale version suitable for printing out for use at the telescope. Asteroid 2015 TB145 will be glimering at about magnitude +11.9 as it passes 5 arcminutes to the northwest of magnitude +4.4 star π2 Orionis close to 02:07 UT on Saturday, 31 October.This zoomed-in view of the wide-field finder chart at the top of the page shows stars down to magnitude +13 on the border of Orion and Taurus and the 6.8 degree-long track of asteroid 2015 TB145 from 21h UT on Friday, 30 October to 05h UT on 31 October. Click the graphic for a greyscale version suitable for printing and using outside at the telescope. AN graphic by Ade Ashford.
On Thursday, 29 October, observers in the British Isles with clear skies and armed with binoculars or small telescopes can see the waning gibbous 17-day-old Moon occult first-magnitude star Aldebaran, the ‘Eye of the Bull’ in the constellation Taurus. The star slips behind the Moon soon after 9:45pm GMT and reappears at the darkened lunar hemisphere about an hour later.
Physicists and astronomers from the University of Texas at Arlington have used advanced software to accurately date lyric poet Sappho’s “Midnight Poem,” which describes the Pleiades star cluster in the constellation of Taurus having set at around midnight, when supposedly observed by her from the Greek island of Lesbos more than 2,500 years ago.
This new NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image reveals the beating heart of one of the most visually appealing, and most studied, supernova remnants known — the Crab Nebula in the constellation Taurus. At the centre of this nebula the spinning core of a deceased star breathes life into the gas that surrounds it.
If you feel confident at using charts at the telescope, what follows is a ten-times enlargement of the naked-eye finder chart at the top of the page. Click the graphic for a greyscale version suitable for printing out for use at the telescope. Asteroid 2015 TB145 will be glimering at about magnitude +11.9 as it passes 5 arcminutes to the northwest of magnitude +4.4 star π2 Orionis close to 02:07 UT on Saturday, 31 October.
