The asteroid Icarus (PHYSICS TODAY, October 1965, page 94) will be under close optical and radar scrutiny when it swings to within 6.36 million km of the earth on 14 and 15 June. The eccentricity of its orbit provides an opportunity to check the relativistic shift of its perihelion; its close approach to Mercury and then to the earth permits calculations of Mercury's mass relative to the earth's. Samuel Herrick of the University of California at Los Angeles has provided 1‐day and 2‐hour ephemerides to help locate Icarus, which will never be brighter than 13th magnitude.

Topics
Ephemerides, Asteroids, Educational assessment
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© 1968 American Institute of Physics.
1968
American Institute of Physics
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