2008 TC3

File:2008 TC3 Tumbling (reduced).gif prior to entering the atmosphere]]

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.

{{cite web

|last=Williams |first=G. V.

|date=October 6, 2008

|title=MPEC 2008-T50

|url=http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/mpec/K08/K08T50.html

|publisher=Minor Planet Center

|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

}}

{{cite web

|last=Huntington

|first=J.

|date=October 7, 2008

|url=http://www.efluxmedia.com/news_Small_Asteroid_Enters_Earths_Atmosphere_26024.html

|title=Small Asteroid Enters Earth's Atmosphere

|publisher=eFluxMedia

|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

}}

{{cite web

|last1=Chesley |first1=S.

|last2=Chodas |first2=P.

|last3=Yeomans |first3=D.

|date=November 4, 2008

|title=Asteroid 2008 TC3 Strikes Earth: Predictions and Observations Agree

|url=http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/news/2008tc3.html

|work=Near Earth Object Program

|publisher=NASA

|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

{{cite web

|title=NEODys Main Risk Page

|url=https://newton.spacedys.com/neodys/

|access-date=October 8, 2008

}}

{{cite web

|title=NEODys {{mp|2008 TC|3}} page

|url=https://newton.spacedys.com/neodys/index.php?pc=1.1.0&n=2008TC3

|access-date=October 8, 2008

}} as well as Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Sentry system. Spectral observations that were performed by astronomers at the 4.2-meter William Herschel Telescope at La Palma, Canary Islands are consistent with either a C-type or M-type asteroid.

Image:Eumetsat-composite-2008TC3-impact.jpg/EUMETSAT infrared image of the explosion]]

File:Animation of 2008 TC3 orbit around Sun.gif

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 {{convert|12.8|km/s|mph|sp=us}} 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.

{{cite web

|date=October 6, 2008

|title=Astronomers predict shooting star over Sudan from space boulder

|url=http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jOHHF4wcyteiUj5AlJP69dIMb0yA

|publisher=Agence France-Presse

|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 {{convert|1,400|km|mi|abbr=on}} away reported seeing the bright flash."

{{cite news

|last=Simon |first=P.

|date=October 8, 2008

|title=Weather Eye: NASA spots asteroid before annihilation

|url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/weather/article4902427.ece

|work=The Times

|access-date=October 8, 2008

}}{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} A webcam captured the flash lighting up El-Gouna beach 725 kilometres north of the explosion (see this webcam frame).

{{cite web

|last=Javaux |first=G.

|title=2008 TC3... Première détection d'un astéroïde avant son impact sur Terre... quelques heures plus tard

|url=http://pagesperso-orange.fr/pgj/2008_TC3.htm

|language=fr

|access-date=September 15, 2009

|quote=Une webcam de surveillance, située sur la plage de la Mer Rouge à El Gouna en Egypte, a enregistré indirectement le flash de l'explosion qui s'est produit à environ 725 km plus au sud.

}} A low-resolution image of the explosion was captured by the weather satellite Meteosat 8.

{{cite web

|date=October 8, 2008

|title=Asteroid Impact

|url=http://www.spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=08&month=10&year=2008

|publisher=SpaceWeather.com

|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

}} The Meteosat images place the fireball at {{Coord|21.00|32.15|name=2008 TC₃ fireball}}.

{{cite web

|date=October 8, 2008

|title=m8 HRV 200810070245

|url=http://www.eumetsat.int/groups/ops/documents/image/img_asteroid_impact_hrv.jpg

|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

}} Infrasound detector arrays in Kenya also detected a sound wave from the direction of the expected impact corresponding to energy of 1.1 to 2.1 kilotons of TNT.

{{cite web

|date=October 7, 2008

|title=Impact of Asteroid 2008 TC3 Confirmed

|url=http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news160.html

|publisher=Near Earth Object Program

|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

}} Asteroids of this size hit Earth about two or three times a year.

{{cite news

|last=Borenstein |first=S.

|date=October 6, 2008

|title=Small Asteroid Headed for Light Show Over Africa

|url=https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory?id=5968166

|work=ABC News

|agency=The Associated Press

|access-date=September 15, 2009

}} {{Dead link|date=September 2010|bot=H3llBot}}

The trajectory showed intersection with Earth's surface at roughly {{Coord|20.3|N|33.5|E|name=2008 TC₃ projected impact}}

{{cite web

|author=Mike

|date=October 6, 2008

|title=Very near NEO Meteoroid impact!

|url=http://mkvh.de/ast/serendipity/index.php?/archives/9-Very-near-NEO-Meteoroid-impact-!.html

|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

|publisher=MKVH.de

}} though the object was expected to break up perhaps {{convert|100|-|200|km|mi|-1|sp=us}} west as it descended, somewhat east of the Nile River, and about {{convert|100|km|mi|-1|sp=us}} south of the Egypt–Sudan border.

According to U.S. government sources

{{cite web

|date=October 15, 2008

|title=Asteroid Update

|url=http://www.spaceweather.com/archive.php?month=10&day=15&year=2008&view=view

|publisher=SpaceWeather.com

|access-date=October 18, 2008

}}

{{cite web

|date=October 15, 2008

|title=Fireball detection

|url=http://meteor.uwo.ca/~pbrown/usaf/usg282.txt

|publisher=University of Western Ontario

|access-date=October 18, 2008

}} U.S. satellites detected the impact at 02:45:40 UT, with the initial detection at {{Coord|20.9|N|31.4|E|name=2008 TC₃ initial detection}} at {{convert|65.4|km|mi nmi|lk=out|sp=us}} altitude and final explosion at {{Coord|20.8|N|32.2|E|name=2008 TC₃ final explosion}} at {{convert|37|km|mi nmi|sp=us}} altitude. These images have not been publicly released.

{{anchor|Almahata Sitta meteorite|Recovered fragments (Almahata Sitta meteorite)|Recovered fragments|Almahata Sitta}}

{{update section|date=November 2023|reason=In 2022, Bischoff et al. concluded that the meteorite's classification as a ureilite may not be correct.[https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/maps.13821] Their findings and the impact they may have on the 2009 Jenniskens study need to be incorporated}}

File:323213main Petersmeteorites 946-710.jpg, with help from students and staff of the University of Khartoum. Nubian Desert, Sudan.]]

A search of the impact zone that began on December 6, 2008, turned up {{convert|10.5|kg}} of rock in some 600 fragments. These meteorites are collectively named Almahata Sitta

{{cite web

|date=August 12, 2013

|title=Almahata Sitta

|url=http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meteor/metbull.php?code=48915

|work=Meteoritical Bulletin Database

|access-date=August 13, 2013

}} ({{Langx|ar|المحطة ستة}}), which means "Station Six"{{cite web

|last=Gebauer

|first=S.

|date=April 16, 2008

|title=Station Nr. 6.{{Snd}} Nubian Desert

|url=https://www.panoramio.com/photo/9417877

|publisher=Panoramio

|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

}} and is a train station between Wadi Halfa and Khartoum, Sudan. This search was led by Peter Jenniskens from the SETI Institute, California and Muawia Shaddad of the University of Khartoum in Sudan and carried out with the collaboration of students and staff of the University of Khartoum. The initial 15 meteorites were found in the first three days of the search. Numerous witnesses were interviewed, and the hunt was guided with a search grid and specific target area produced by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

{{cite web

|date=March 27, 2009

|title=NASA Team Finds Riches in Meteorite Treasure Hunt

|url=http://www.nasa.gov/topics/solarsystem/features/asteroid_treasure_hunt.html

|publisher=NASA

|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

}}

{{cite journal

|date=February 25, 2009

|title=Found: Pieces of meteorite spotted before impact

|url=https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20126974.800-found-pieces-of-meteorite-spotted-before-impact.html

|journal=New Scientist

|issue=2697 |page=15

}}

{{cite journal

|last=Shiga |first=D.

|date=February 19, 2009

|title=First tracked space rock recovered after impact

|url=https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16635-first-tracked-space-rock-recovered-after-impact.html

|journal=New Scientist

}}

{{cite journal

|last=Courtland

|first=R.

|date=March 25, 2009

|title=Meteorite hunters 'strike gold' in Sudan

|url=https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16843-meteorite-hunters-strike-gold-in-sudan.html

|journal=New Scientist

|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

}}

{{cite journal

|last=Kwok |first=R.

|date=March 26, 2009

|title=Astronomy: The Rock That Fell to Earth

|journal=Nature

|volume=458 |issue= 7237|pages=401–403

|doi=10.1038/458401a

|pmid=19325604

|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.{{clarify|date=November 2023|reason=What does "now" and "firmly" mean? Is this still true after Bischoff's 2022 paper?}} Amino acids have been found on the meteorite.

{{cite web

|date=December 16, 2010

|title=Life's Building Blocks Found on Surprising Meteorite

|url=http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/asteroid-collision-meteoroid-amino-acids-life-101215.html

|publisher=Space.com

|access-date=August 13, 2013

}} The nanodiamonds found in the meteorite were shown to have grown slowly, implying that the source is another planet in the Solar System.{{cite journal | last1=Nabiei | first1=Farhang | last2=Badro | first2=James | last3=Dennenwaldt | first3=Teresa | last4=Oveisi | first4=Emad | last5=Cantoni | first5=Marco | last6=Hébert | first6=Cécile | last7=El Goresy | first7=Ahmed | last8=Barrat | first8=Jean-Alix | last9=Gillet | first9=Philippe | title=A large planetary body inferred from diamond inclusions in a ureilite meteorite | journal=Nature Communications | publisher=Springer Nature | volume=9 | issue=1 | pages=1327 | date=April 17, 2018 | issn=2041-1723 | doi=10.1038/s41467-018-03808-6 | pmid=29666368 | pmc=5904174 |bibcode=2018NatCo...9.1327N|display-authors=1}} More recently, in December 2020, further studies on the fragments have been reported. These studies revealed an extremely rare form of hydrated crystals, in a fragment called AhS 202, known as amphibole, suggesting to the researchers that 2008 TC3 early on likely belonged to a very large Ceres-class dwarf planet.{{cite news |last=Dockrill |first=Peter |title=Meteorite Clues Point to a Huge, Unknown Object in The Early Solar System |url=https://www.sciencealert.com/a-huge-unknown-object-once-roamed-our-ancient-solar-system-scientists-say |date=22 December 2020 |work=SpaceAlert.com |access-date=22 December 2020 }}

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

|last=Lakdawalla

|first=E.

|date=September 20, 2009

|title=A piece of an asteroid returns to the telescope that discovered it

|url=http://www.planetary.org/blog/article/00002104/

|publisher=The Planetary Society

|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

}}

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

{{Div col|colwidth=18em}}

• Asteroid impact prediction
• 1972 Great Daylight Fireball
• 2014 AA
• 2018 LA
• 2019 MO
• {{mpl|2022 EB|5}}
• {{mpl|2022 WJ|1}}
• {{mpl|2023 CX|1}}
• Impact event
• List of notable asteroids
• WT1190F

{{Div col end}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite web

|last=Atkinson

|first=N.

|date=October 13, 2008

|title=Where Are the Images from Asteroid 2008 TC3?

|publisher=Universe Today

|url=http://www.universetoday.com/2008/10/13/where-are-the-images-from-asteroid-2008-tc3/

|access-date=June 8, 2009

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090215155840/http://www.universetoday.com/2008/10/13/where-are-the-images-from-asteroid-2008-tc3/

|archive-date=February 15, 2009

|url-status=live

}}

• {{cite web

|date=March 25, 2009

|title=80-ton asteroid's impact recorded

|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/7964309.stm

|work=BBC News

|access-date=August 13, 2013

}}

• {{cite journal

|last=Dockweiler

|first=T.

|date=March 12, 2009

|title=Earth's First Pre-Known Asteroid Impact: The Sudan Event of October 7, 2008

|url=http://img-srv.dtcbuilder.com/engine/builder/images/2/8/0/8/5/4/file/6.pdf

|journal=Science Newsletter

|volume=4

|issue=3

|pages=1–2

|publisher=Triton Fun Company

|access-date=August 13, 2013

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120222144723/http://img-srv.dtcbuilder.com/engine/builder/images/2/8/0/8/5/4/file/6.pdf

|archive-date=February 22, 2012

|url-status=dead

}}

• {{cite journal

|last1=Gayon-Markt |first1=J.

|last2=Delbo |first2=M.

|last3=Morbidelli |first3=A.

|last4=Marchi |first4=S.

|date=April 30, 2012

|title=On the origin of the Almahata-Sitta meteorite and 2008 TC₃ asteroid

|journal=Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

|volume=424 |issue=1 |pages=508–518

|arxiv=1206.3042

|bibcode=2012MNRAS.424..508G

|doi=10.1111/j.1365-2966.2012.21220.x

|doi-access=free

|s2cid=119242802

}}

• {{cite web

|last=Lakdawalla |first=E.

|date=October 7, 2008

|title=The full story of Earth-impacting asteroid 2008 TC3

|url=http://www.planetary.org/blogs/emily-lakdawalla/2008/1684.html

|publisher=The Planetary Society

|access-date=August 13, 2013

}}

• {{cite web

|last=Yeomans

|first=D.

|date=October 7, 2008

|title=Small Asteroid Predicted to Cause Brilliant Fireball over Northern Sudan

|url=http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news159.html

|publisher=Near Earth Object Program

|access-date=August 13, 2013

|url-status=dead

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130406122509/http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news159.html

|archive-date=April 6, 2013

}}

{{Commons category}}

{{GeoGroup}}

{{External media

|float = right

|width = 350px

|image1 = [https://web.archive.org/web/20081009110544/http://www.efluxmedia.com/content/news/news_26007.jpg An image of {{mp|2008 TC|3}}]

|image2 = [https://web.archive.org/web/20081017142518/http://media.skyandtelescope.com/images/2008TC3-Short-2.gif Animation of {{mp|2008 TC|3}}]

|image3 = [http://www.spaceweather.com/swpod2008/08nov08/Sudantrain2_strip.jpg Smoky trail (spaceweather.com November 8, 2008)]

}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20130801103648/http://spaceweather.com/submissions/large_image_popup.php?image_name=Ernesto-Guido-Giovanni-Sostero-a-Virgilio-Gonano-2008TC3_2008Oct06_AFAM_1223345558.jpg Remanzacco Observatory photographs of the incoming space rock]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20121109020914/http://www.tng.iac.es/users/boschin/Astrophotos/neo2008tc3b.jpg Telescopio Nazionale Galileo photograph of 2008 TC₃]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20081112010343/http://marek.mahut.sk/blog/2008/10/06/small-planetoid-8ta9d69-will-cross-earth/ Announcement with animation]
• {{cite web

|title=webcam record of flash effect from Red Sea beach at El Gouna, Egypt, 725 km away

|format=GIF

|url=http://pagesperso-orange.fr/pgj/ELG.gif

|access-date=June 8, 2009

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110314184526/http://pagesperso-orange.fr/pgj/ELG.gif

|archive-date=March 14, 2011

|url-status=live

}}

• {{APOD |date=March 28, 2009 |title=Almahata Sitta 15}}
• [http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/db_search/show_object?object_id=2008+TC3 2008 TC3 orbit and observations] at IAU Minor Planet Center
• {{NeoDys|2008+TC3}}
• {{ESA-SSA|2008TC3}}
• {{JPL small body}}

{{Modern impact events}}

{{Small Solar System bodies}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:2008 TC3}}

#

20081006

20081006

Category:Discoveries by Richard Kowalski

#

Category:Minor planet object articles (unnumbered)

Category:Predicted impact events

Category:October 2008 in Africa

Category:Modern Earth impact events