James Bauer

An artist's depiction of two Near-Earth asteroids passing by the Earth at a safe distance. The 18-inch Schmidt telescope now on display in the Observatory's Museum was used in the 1970s and after to conduct systematic searches for asteroids whose orbits might cross that of the Earth. (ESA)

On October 12, asteroid 2012 TC4 will pass by the Earth at a distance perhaps of as little as 4,200 miles. Its position is uncertain because only a few observations were made at its discovery in 2012 and it was not seen until it was recovered last July. Faint and no larger than 100 feet across, the space rock will not hit the Earth on this pass but has a 1 in 630 chance of impact by 2120.

Working with NASA and others, Bauer will use the Large Format Camera to better measure the asteroid's orbital and physical characteristics.