Rosetta (spacecraft) - Misidentification As An Asteroid

Misidentification As An Asteroid

In November 2007, during its second flyby, the Rosetta spacecraft was mistaken for a dangerous near-Earth asteroid and given the designation 2007 VN₈₄. Based upon images taken by a 0.68-meter telescope of the Catalina Sky Survey, an astronomer 'discovered' the spacecraft and misidentified it as an asteroid about 20 meters in diameter, and performed a trajectory calculation showing that it would make its closest flyby of the Earth at a distance of 5,700 kilometers on November 13, 2007. This extremely close approach (in astronomical terms) led to speculation that 2007 VN₈₄ might be at risk of impacting the Earth. However, astronomer Denis Denisenko recognized that the trajectory matched that of the Rosetta probe, which was performing a flyby of Earth en route to its rendezvous with a comet. The Minor Planet Center later confirmed in an editorial release that 2007 VN₈₄ was actually the spacecraft.