Asteroid 2019 AS5 flew past Earth at a very close distance of 0.04 LD
A newly discovered asteroid designated 2019 AS5 flew past Earth at a very close distance of 0.04 LD / 0.00010 AU (14 959 km / 9 295 miles) on January 8, 2019. This is the 1st known asteroid to flyby Earth within 1 lunar distance this year and the closest since February 24, 2018.
This is a small asteroid, first observed at Mt. Lemmon Survey 9 hours after it flew past us.
It belongs to the Apollo group of asteroids and has an estimated diameter between 0.94 and 2.1 m (3.1 – 6.8 feet).
The asteroid flew past Earth at a speed (relative to the Earth) of 12.52 km/s at 00:37 UTC on January 8.
[ Ephemeris | Orbit Diagram | Orbital Elements | Mission Design | Physical Parameters | Close-Approach Data ]
As already mentioned, this is the 1st known asteroid to flyby Earth within 1 lunar distance this year and the closest since February 24, 2018.
The last known <1LD asteroid flyby took place at 12:25 UTC on December 28, 2018. We had two such flybys that day, 2018 YO2 at 0.51 LD and 2019 AW2 at 0.43 LD.
References
Asteroid 2019 AS5 at Minor Planet Center; at CNEOS
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
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