|   | |
| Discovery | |
|---|---|
| Discovery date | January 10, 2010 | 
| Designations | |
| none | |
| Apollo NEO [1] | |
| Orbital characteristics [1] | |
| Epoch 13 January 2016 (JD 2457400.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 2 | |
| Aphelion | 1.3688 AU (204.77 Gm) | 
| Perihelion | 0.72437 AU (108.364 Gm) | 
| 1.0466 AU (156.57 Gm) | |
| Eccentricity | 0.30787 | 
| 1.07 yr (391.07 d) | |
Average orbital speed   | 28.5 | 
| 156.409° | |
| 0° 55m 13.944s /day | |
| Inclination | 3.8300° | 
| 112.376° | |
| 97.711° | |
| Earth MOID | 0.000981553 AU (146,838.2 km) | 
| Jupiter MOID | 3.59473 AU (537.764 Gm) | 
| Physical characteristics | |
| Dimensions | ~30 meters (elongated) [2] | 
| 0.14660 h (0.006108 d) | |
| ? | |
| 27.2 | |
2010 AL30 is a near-Earth asteroid that was discovered on 10 January 2010 at Grove Creek Observatory, Australia. [1] [3]
Italian scientists Ernesto Guido and Giovanni Sostero told RIA Novosti that it had an orbital period of almost exactly one year and might be a spent rocket booster. [4] However, it was determined that it is a near-Earth asteroid. [5] On January 13, 2010 at 1246 UT it passed Earth at 0.0008624 AU (129,010 km ; 80,170 mi ), [1] about 1/3 of the distance from the Earth to the Moon (or 0.33 LD).
Based an estimated diameter of 10–15 m (33–49 ft), if 2010 AL30 had entered the Earth's atmosphere, it would have created a meteor air burst equivalent to between 50 kT and 100 kT (kilotons of TNT). The Nagasaki "Fat Man" atom bomb had a yield between 13–18 kT. [6]
It has an uncertainty parameter of 2 and has been observed by radar. [1] Radar observations show the asteroid is elongated and is about 30 meters in diameter. [2] It may be a contact binary.