Asteroid 2017 FM1 flew past Earth at 0.32 LD
Image credit: The green line indicates the object's apparent motion relative to the Earth, and the bright green marks are the object's location at approximately one hour intervals. The Moon's orbit is gray. The blue arrow points in the direction of Earth's motion and the yellow arrow points toward the Sun. Edit: TW
A newly discovered asteroid designated 2017 FM1 flew past Earth at a distance of 0.32 LD (~122 880 km / 76 354 miles) from the surface at 22:38 UTC on March 20, 2017. This is the 14th asteroid to flyby within 1 lunar distance since the start of the year (according to data available September 20, 2017) and the second within the past 24 hours.
2017 FM1 has an estimated diameter between 3.3 and 7.4 m (10.8 – 24.3 feet). It flew past Earth at a speed (relative to the Earth) of 10.42 km/s.
It was first observed at Catalina Sky Survey on March 20, 2017.
[ Ephemeris | Orbit Diagram | Orbital Elements | Physical Parameters | Close-Approach Data ]
Just ~99 minutes before 2017 FM1 made its closest approach to Earth, another small asteroid flew past us within 1 lunar distance. That one was named 2017 FN1.
As of March 18, 2017, there are 15 798 known near-Earth asteroids (NEAs). Of them, 8 602 belong to the Apollo group of asteroids – Earth-crossing NEAs with semi-major axes larger than Earth's (named after asteroid 1862 Apollo).
References:
Asteroid 2017 FM1 at Minor Planet Center, CNEOS
Teo Blašković founded The Watchers in 2011 and edited it until 2026, covering seismic and volcanic activity, extreme weather, space weather and near-Earth objects. Articles on this page are his archive.
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