Newly discovered asteroid 2018 WG2 flew past Earth at 0.52 LD
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 half 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 small asteroid designated 2018 WG2 flew past Earth at a distance of 0.52 LD / 0.00134 AU (200 461 km / 124 560 miles) on November 30, 2018.
Asteroid 2018 WG2 belongs to the Apollo group of asteroids.
It was first observed at Mt. Lemmon Survey, Arizona and has an estimated diameter between 2.5 and 5.6 m (8.6 – 18.3 feet).
The object flew past us at a speed of 6.75 km/s at 19:09 UTC on November 30.
[ Ephemeris | Orbit Diagram | Orbital Elements | Mission Design | Physical Parameters | Close-Approach Data ]
This is the 14th known asteroid to flyby Earth within 1 lunar distance during November 2018. A total of 71 known <1LD asteroids were discovered since the start of the year.
References:
Asteroid 2018 WG2 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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