Asteroid 2018 FE3 flew past Earth at 0.38 LD, 3 days before discovery
Featured image: 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 grey. The blue arrow points in the direction of Earth's motion and the yellow arrow points toward the Sun. Credit: Minor Planet Center.
A newly discovered asteroid 2018 FE3 flew past our planet at a very close distance of 0.38 LD / 0.00098 AU (~146 605 km / 91 096 miles) at 07:06 UTC on March 18, 2018.
This object belongs to the Aten group of asteroids. It was first observed at Catalina Sky Survey on March 21, 3 days after it made its closest approach.
Its estimated diameter is between 9.9 and 22 m (32.5 – 72 feet).
[ Ephemeris | Orbit Diagram | Orbital Elements | Physical Parameters | Close-Approach Data ]
This was the 21st known asteroid to flyby Earth within 1 lunar distance since the start of the year. It was followed by 2018 FQ3 on March 19.
Reference:
Asteroid 2018 FE3 at Minor Planet Center; at CNEOS
I'm a dedicated researcher, journalist, and editor at The Watchers. With over 20 years of experience in the media industry, I specialize in hard science news, focusing on extreme weather, seismic and volcanic activity, space weather, and astronomy, including near-Earth objects and planetary defense strategies. You can reach me at teo /at/ watchers.news.
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