2008 TC3

Discovery

The asteroid was discovered by Richard A. Kowalski at the Catalina Sky Survey (CSS) 1.5-meter telescope at Mount Lemmon, north of Tucson, Arizona, US, on October 6, 06:39 UTC, 19 hours before the impact. |access-date=October 8, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081009221534/http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/mpec/K08/K08T50.html |archive-date=October 9, 2008 |url-status=live |access-date=October 8, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081010095304/http://www.efluxmedia.com/news_Small_Asteroid_Enters_Earths_Atmosphere_26024.html |archive-date=October 10, 2008 |url-status=dead |access-date=June 18, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090618045538/http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/news/2008tc3.html |archive-date=June 18, 2009 |url-status=dead

It was notable as the first such body to be observed and tracked prior to reaching Earth. The process of detecting and tracking a near-Earth object, an effort sometimes referred to as Spaceguard, was put to the test. In total, 586 astrometric and almost as many photometric observations were performed by 27 amateur and professional observers in less than 19 hours and reported to the Minor Planet Center, which in eleven hours issued 25 Minor Planet Electronic Circulars with new orbit solutions as observations poured in. On October 7, 01:49 UTC, the asteroid entered the shadow of the Earth, which made further observations impossible.

Impact predictions were performed by University of Pisa's CLOMON 2 semi-automatic monitoring system |access-date=October 8, 2008 |access-date=October 8, 2008

Entry

The meteor entered Earth's atmosphere above northern Sudan at 02:46 UTC (05:46 local time) on October 7, 2008, with a velocity of 12.8 km/s at an azimuth of 281 degrees and an altitude angle of 19 degrees to the local horizon. It exploded tens of kilometers above the ground with the energy of 0.9 to 2.1 kilotons of TNT over a remote area of the Nubian Desert, causing a large fireball or bolide. |access-date=October 8, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081011054910/http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jOHHF4wcyteiUj5AlJP69dIMb0yA |archive-date=October 11, 2008 |url-status=dead

The Times reported that the meteor's "light was so intense that it lit up the sky like a full moon, and an airliner 1,400 km away reported seeing the bright flash." |access-date=October 8, 2008 |access-date=September 15, 2009 |access-date=October 8, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081010193852/http://www.spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=08&month=10&year=2008 |archive-date=October 10, 2008 |url-status=live |access-date=October 8, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081017142511/http://www.eumetsat.int/groups/ops/documents/image/img_asteroid_impact_hrv.jpg |archive-date=October 17, 2008 |url-status=dead |access-date=October 8, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081010010227/http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news160.html |archive-date=October 10, 2008 |url-status=dead |access-date=September 15, 2009

The trajectory showed intersection with Earth's surface at roughly |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081010123315/http://mkvh.de/ast/serendipity/index.php?%2Farchives%2F9-Very-near-NEO-Meteoroid-impact-%21.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=October 10, 2008

According to U.S. government sources |access-date=October 18, 2008 |access-date=October 18, 2008

Almahata Sitta meteorite

Recovered fragments

A search of the impact zone that began on December 6, 2008, turned up 10.5 kg of rock in some 600 fragments. These meteorites are collectively named Almahata Sitta |access-date=August 13, 2013 |access-date=June 15, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081230152832/http://www.panoramio.com/photo/9417877 |archive-date=December 30, 2008 |url-status=dead |access-date=April 5, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090331094810/http://www.nasa.gov/topics/solarsystem/features/asteroid_treasure_hunt.html |archive-date=March 31, 2009 |url-status=live |access-date=April 4, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090429200504/http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16843-meteorite-hunters-strike-gold-in-sudan.html |archive-date=April 29, 2009 |url-status=live |doi-access=free

Samples of the Almahata Sitta meteorite were sent for analysis to a consortium of researchers led by Jenniskens, the Almahata Sitta consortium, including NASA Ames in California, the Johnson Space Center in Houston, the Carnegie Institution of Washington, and Fordham University in New York City. The first sample measured was an anomalous ultra-fine-grained porous polymict ureilite achondrite, with large carbonaceous grains. Reflectance spectra of the meteorite, combined with the astronomical observations, identified 2008 TC3 as an F-type asteroid. Fragile anomalous dark carbon-rich ureilites like in the Almahata Sitta meteorite are now firmly linked to the group of F-class asteroids. Amino acids have been found on the meteorite. |access-date=August 13, 2013

Richard Kowalski, who discovered the object, received a tiny fragment of Almahatta Sitta, a gift from friends and well-wishers on the Minor Planet Mailing List, which Kowalski founded in order to help connect professional and amateur astronomers.{{cite web |access-date=October 7, 2009 |archive-date=March 4, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120304215230/http://www.planetary.org/blog/article/00002104/ |url-status=dead

Gallery

Image:M8-HRV-200810070245.jpg|Meteosat 8/EUMETSAT visual image of first light flare from 2008 TC3 with lat/long reference Image:M8-NCOL-200810070245.jpg|Meteosat 8/EUMETSAT IR image of main fireball from 2008 TC3 Image:Img asteroid hrv ir108.jpg|Meteosat images combined, showing offset from first light flare to main IR flare

References

References

1. "JPL Small-Body Database Browser: (2008 TC3)". Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
2. Borenstein, S.. (March 26, 2009). "Astronomers catch a shooting star for 1st time". ABC news.
3. (April 17, 2018). "A large planetary body inferred from diamond inclusions in a ureilite meteorite". Springer Nature.
4. Dockrill, Peter. (22 December 2020). "Meteorite Clues Point to a Huge, Unknown Object in The Early Solar System". SpaceAlert.com.