Summary: Asteroid 2002 NY40 came so close to Earth on Aug. 17th and 18th that sky watchers could see it through small telescopes. "It moved very quickly against the background field of stars. Very impressive, and a hard object to find and keep in the field of view," says Canadian amateur astronomer Lance Taylor, who used a 7-inch telescope to view the asteroid. "Visually it looked almost like a satellite--just farther away."

John Rogers: "Here is a video from the Stony Ridge Observatory. I recorded it by placing a handheld camcorder, operating in night-shot mode, up to the eyepiece of the 30-inch telescope. Visually, the asteroid appeared to be a deep golden-yellow in color. It was an awe-inspiring sight to see it passing stars of varying colors. There was no hesitation in discerning motion. It was immediately apparent."

Francisco Reyes, University of Florida astronomer: "We hosted an open house at our teaching observatory so the public could view the asteroid. I set up a 16" monitor and got a round of applause from the audience after I was able to find the object and they saw it moving across the screen! It was a wonderful experience for me and the public to see the asteroid moving so fast." [See the video, processed by Kazumasa Imai]

Becky Ramotowski, amateur astronomer: "Using my 80mm Celestron Refractor, I found a small group of 6.5 magnitude stars on the published flyby track. Then I waited for a dim 'star' to move through that field. When the asteroid appeared it was moving fast. It was an amazing thing to watch zooming through the star fields so quickly. It was also NOT what I would call a binocular object."

Lawrence Garrett, Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers: "I was quite pleased to observe 2002 NY40 at Stellafane in 25" and 14.5" telescopes. What a show! Of my 72 observed near Earth asteroids, this tops them all. I fact I believe only the jaw-dropping 60 degree tail of comet Hyakutake 96/B2 tops this asteroids flyby in my 29 years at the telescope."

Charles Kiesel, amateur astronomer: "With the use of a computer star program, a 4 1/2 reflector and a 36X eyepiece I was able to follow 2002 NY40 for about 5 minutes. I kept the star program running with 3 second updates and kept moving between the computer in the house and the telescope in the backyard. When the computer program indicated that the asteroid was near a star or two bright enough for me to locate in the telescope's 8 X viewfinder, I started watching the field of stars around the marker stars. I soon spotted the asteroid. I had to use averted vision (peripheral vision being more sensitive to light) while looking through my telescope to see it because the stars and the asteroid were very dim. The sky conditions were not ideal--moon light, small town lights,very humid air spreading the light and off and on again clouds. I count myself fortunate to have been able to see it at all."