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Close Icarus Approach Tests Mercury Mass, Perihelion Shift

JUN 01, 1968

DOI: 10.1063/1.3035010

Physics Today

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.

This article is only available in PDF format

© 1968 American Institute of Physics
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This Content Appeared In
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Volume 21, Number 6

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