AN ASTEROID discovered by an amateur astronomer in Co Kildare is the first Irish asteroid to be found in 160 years. The asteroid which has been given the temporary name of “2008 TM9” was discovered by Dave McDonald from his Celbridge observatory on the night of October 7th.
Speaking following his discovery, Mr McDonald said “nowadays most asteroids are discovered by government funded observatories in the US, so it is particularly satisfying to have made this discovery as an amateur astronomer”.
Although little is known about this new asteroid until further research is carried out it is certain that this particular asteroid poses no threat to our planet, he added.
The chairman of Astronomy Ireland, David Moore, said: “Asteroids are the remnants of the very early solar system, a relic of a time when the Earth and all the other planets were formed. It is very pleasing that this discovery was made from Ireland and Astronomy Ireland congratulates Dave on his wonderful discover.”
There are currently almost 1,000 asteroids which cross the orbit of the Earth from time to time, but very few of these objects are likely to pose a significant risk of impacting earth. For example there is a one in 45,000 chance that asteroid 99942 Apophis will collide with the Earth in April 2036, according to Astronomy Ireland. Mr McDonald will be afforded the opportunity to name his discovery properly when more is known about the orbit of the space rock around the sun.