Asteroid 2019 BO flew past Earth at 0.18 lunar distances

A newly discovered asteroid designated 2019 BO flew past Earth at a very close distance of 0.18 LD / 0.00046 AU (68 815 km / 42 759 miles) on January  16, 2019. This is the third known asteroid to fly past Earth within 1 lunar distance this month.

Asteroid 2019 BO belongs to the Apollo group of asteroids. It was first observed at Catalina Sky Survey, Arizona on January 17, one day after it made its close approach to our planet.

It has an estimated diameter between 6.6 and 15 m (22 – 49 feet) and it flew past us at a speed (relative to the Earth) of 8.08 km/s at 01:13 UTC.

[ Ephemeris | Orbit Diagram | Orbital Elements | Mission Design | Physical Parameters | Close-Approach Data ]

References:

Asteroid 2019 BO 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