Related Research Articles
(292220) 2006 SU49, provisional designation 2006 SU49, is a sub-kilometer asteroid, classified as near-Earth object and potentially hazardous asteroid of the Apollo group that had a small chance of impacting Earth in 2029.
2010 GA6 is a micro-asteroid on an eccentric orbit, classified as a near-Earth object of the Apollo group. It was first observed on 5 April 2010, by astronomers of the Catalina Sky Survey at Mount Lemmon Observatory, Arizona, United States, four days before a close approach to Earth at 1.1 lunar distances on 9 April 2010. It has not been observed since.
(523662) 2012 MU2, provisional designation 2012 MU2, is a sub-kilometer asteroid on an eccentric orbit, classified as near-Earth object and potentially hazardous asteroid of the Apollo group. It was discovered on 18 June 2012 by astronomers of the Catalina Sky Survey at an apparent magnitude of 19.9 using a 0.68-meter (27 in) Schmidt–Cassegrain telescope. It has an estimated diameter of 240 meters (790 ft). The asteroid was listed on Sentry Risk Table with a Torino Scale rating of 1 on 23 June 2012.
(163132) 2002 CU11, provisional designation 2002 CU11, is a bright, sub-kilometer asteroid, classified as near-Earth object and potentially hazardous asteroid of the Apollo group. Based on absolute magnitude, it is the second largest asteroid known to have passed closer than the Moon.
2014 XL7 is a near-Earth object and Apollo asteroid, approximately 230 meters (750 feet) in diameter. It was the most dangerous potentially hazardous asteroid on Sentry Risk Table upon its discovery by the Mount Lemmon Survey in December 2014. At the time, the asteroid had a cumulative 1 in 83000 chance of impacting Earth on 4–5 June between the years 2048 and 2084. After the object's observation arc had been extended to 35 days, it was removed from the Sentry Risk Table on 15 January 2015. Since then the asteroid's orbit has been secured. Although it has an Earth minimum orbit intersection distance of less than one lunar distance, there are no projected close encounters with Earth in the foreseeable future, with its closest passage to occur in May 2046, still millions of kilometers away.
2012 UE34 is a sub-kilometer asteroid, classified as a near-Earth object of the Apollo group, approximately 70 meters (230 feet) in diameter. It was first observed on 18 October 2012, by Pan-STARRS at Haleakala Observatory on the island of Maui, Hawaii, in the United States. The object was removed from the Sentry Risk Table on 29 December 2013. On 8 April 2041 it will pass Earth at a nominal distance of 0.0007329 AU (110,000 km; 68,000 mi). Due to its presumed small size, it does not qualify as a potentially hazardous asteroid, despite its low Earth MOID.
2016 PQ is an approximately 20-meter sized asteroid and near-Earth object of the Apollo group, with one of the smallest known minimum orbital intersection distances with Earth.
(585310) 2017 YZ1, provisional designation: 2017 YZ1, is a sub-kilometer asteroid on an eccentric orbit, classified as near-Earth object and potentially hazardous asteroid of the Apollo group, approximately 250 meters (800 feet) in diameter. It was first observed on 20 December 2017, by astronomers with the Mount Lemmon Survey at Mount Lemmon Observatory near Tucson, Arizona, in the United States. On 29 January 2018, it passed Earth at 125 lunar distances.
2010 WC9, unofficially designated ZJ99C60, is a sub-kilometer near-Earth asteroid of the Apollo group, approximately 100 meters (330 feet) in diameter. First observed for eleven days by the Catalina Sky Survey in 2010, the asteroid was recovered in May 2018 during its sub-lunar close encounter with Earth.
2019 AQ3 is an inclined near-Earth object of the small Atira group from the innermost region of the Solar System, estimated to measure 1.4 kilometers (0.9 miles) in diameter. Among the hundreds of thousands known asteroids, 2019 AQ3's orbit was thought to have likely the smallest semi-major axis (0.589 AU) and aphelion (0.77 AU), that is, the orbit's average distance and farthest point from the Sun, respectively. The object was first observed on 4 January 2019, by astronomers at Palomar's Zwicky Transient Facility in California, with recovered images dating back to 2015.
2019 AS5 is a near-Earth asteroid that passed close by the Earth on 8 January 2019. It passed within 0.04 lunar distances or 15,000 kilometers of the center of the Earth, 8600 km from the surface. It was discovered by the Mt. Lemmon Survey 9 hours after closest approach. It is estimated to be about 1–2 metres (3–7 feet) in diameter.
1979 XB is a lost asteroid with a short observation arc of 3.9 days that cannot be recovered with targeted observations and awaits serendipitous survey observations. It is classified as a near-Earth object and potentially hazardous asteroid of the Apollo group and is estimated to be 660 meters in diameter. The unnumbered minor planet has a poorly constrained orbit and has not been observed in 44 years. It has been listed on the Sentry Risk Table since the list started in 2002. With a cumulative Palermo Technical Impact Hazard Scale of −2.72, the poorly known orbit and assumed size place 1979 XB third on an unconstrained listing of the Sentry Risk Table.
2020 CW is a tiny near-Earth asteroid of the Apollo group, approximately 1 meter (3 ft) in diameter. It was first observed by the Mount Lemmon Survey on 1 February 2020, when it passed Earth very closely at a nominal distance of only 0.041 lunar distances. The object's orbital elements remain highly uncertain.
2015 ME131 (also written 2015 ME131) was a lost asteroid and a Near-Earth object (NEO). It is an Atira asteroid, which is by far the smallest group of near-Earth objects. This makes it an interior-Earth object (IEO), meaning that it has an orbit entirely confined within Earth's orbit. It was recovered on September 15, 2020 as 2020 RX8 which has extended the observation arc from 1.8 days to 5 years. It was removed from the Sentry Risk Table on February 15, 2021 after the two orbits were linked together. It was first observed on June 23, 2015, when the asteroid was more than 1 AU from Earth and had a solar elongation of 68 degrees.
2017 QC36 is a near-Earth object and a potentially hazardous asteroid of the Aten group, It measures approximately 200 meters (660 feet) in diameter and was briefly observed by the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer on 18 August 2017 before it became a lost asteroid on the following day. It was later recovered in 2021 from archival Pan-STARRS and Cerro Tololo observations.
2017 MZ8 (also written 2017 MZ8) is a near-Earth object and a potentially hazardous asteroid, meaning that it has an orbit that can make close approaches to the Earth and large enough to cause significant regional damage in the event of impact. It is an Apollo asteroid, meaning that it is an Earth-crossing asteroid that has an orbit larger than the orbit of the Earth. It was first observed on 22 June 2017, when the asteroid was about 1 AU from Earth and had a solar elongation of 131 degrees.
2017 DB120 (also written 2017 DB120) is a near-Earth object, meaning that it has an orbit which brings it into proximity with Earth. It is an Amor asteroid, meaning that its orbit does not cross Earth's orbit, but its perihelion is close to, but greater than, the aphelion of Earth. It was first observed on February 25, 2017, when the asteroid was less than 1 AU from Earth and had a solar elongation of 169°.
2017 SG33 (also written 2017 SG33) is a near-Earth object, meaning that it has an orbit which brings it into proximity with Earth. It is an Amor asteroid, meaning that its orbit does not cross Earth's orbit, but its perihelion is close to, but greater than, the aphelion of Earth. It was first observed on 25 September 2017, when the asteroid was less than 1 AU from Earth and had a solar elongation of 169°.
2023 DZ2 is an asteroid roughly 70 meters in diameter, classified as a near-Earth object of the Apollo group, and originally a Virtual Impactor (VI). It was first observed on 27 February 2023, when it was 0.11 AU (16 million km) from Earth, with the Isaac Newton Telescope by Ovidiu Vaduvescu, Freya Barwell, and Kiran Jhass (ING and University of Sheffield student support astronomers) within the EURONEAR project. It passed 174,644 ± 0.9 km (108,518.75 ± 0.56 mi) of Earth on March 25, 2023. This is a little less than half the distance to the Moon. This was the largest asteroid to approach this close since 2019 OK. On March 21, 2023 with a 66-day observation arc, it was removed from the Sentry Risk Table. Due to the highly precise radar observations on 25 March 2023 we know that the 2004 Earth approach was closer than the 2023 approach.
2023 GQ2 is an asteroid roughly 400 meters in diameter, classified as a near-Earth object and potentially hazardous object of the Apollo group. It was first discovered on 12 April 2023, when it was 1.3 AU (190 million km) from Earth, with the Bok Telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory. On 19 April 2023, with an observation arc of 6.7 days, it was rated 1 on the Torino scale for a virtual impactor on 16 November 2028 at 00:58 UTC. When it had a Palermo scale rating of –0.70, the odds of impact were about 5 times less than the background hazard level and this gave the asteroid one of the highest Palermo scale ratings ever issued. On 20 April 2023 precovery images from May 2019 were announced extending the observation arc to 3.9 years, and the 2028 virtual impactor was removed from the Sentry Risk Table. It is now known the nominal approach will safely occur about 13 hours after the impact scenario on 16 November 2028 13:36 ± 40 minutes.
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 "2016 NL56". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 21 July 2021.
- 1 2 3 4 5 "ESA space situational awareness 2016NL56". European Space Agency . Retrieved 4 August 2020.
- 1 2 "2016 NL56 = 2021 NL2". Minor Planet Electronic Circular . 21 July 2021.
- 1 2 3 4 5 "JPL Small-Body Database Browser: (2016 NL56)" (2021-07-17 last obs.). Jet Propulsion Laboratory . Retrieved 21 July 2021.
- 1 2 "Asteroid Size Estimator". CNEOS NASA/JPL. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
- ↑ "JPL HORIZONS Web-Interface (2016 NL56)". Jet Propulsion Laboratory . Retrieved 4 August 2020.
- ↑ "NEODyS-2 Risk List". SpaceDys . Retrieved 4 August 2020.
- ↑ "Sentry: Earth Impact Monitoring – Impact Risk Data". Jet Propulsion Laboratory . Retrieved 4 August 2020.
- ↑ "Sentry: Earth Impact Monitoring – Removed Objects". CNEOS – Center for Near Earth Object Studies. Retrieved 21 July 2021.
- ↑ "Sentry: Earth Impact Monitoring - Object Details 2016 NL56". Jet Propulsion Laboratory . Retrieved 4 August 2020.
- 1 2 "JPL Small-Body Database Browser: (2016 NL56)" (2021-07-17 last obs.). Jet Propulsion Laboratory . Retrieved 21 July 2021.
