Asteroid 2019 BV1 flew past Earth at 0.35 lunar distances
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 newly discovered asteroid designated 2019 BV1 flew past Earth at a distance of 0.35 LD / 0.00090 AU (134 638 km / 83 660 miles) on January 24, 2019. This is the 4th known asteroid to flyby Earth within 1 lunar distance since the start of the year.
This near-Earth object belongs to the Apollo group of asteroids. It was first observed at Catalina Sky Survey on January 25, 2019.
Its estimated diameter is between 4.9 and 11 m (16 – 36 feet) and it flew past us at a speed (relative to the Earth) of 14.4 km/s at 20:53 UTC.
[ Ephemeris | Orbit Diagram | Orbital Elements | Mission Design | Physical Parameters | Close-Approach Data ]
Reference:
Asteroid 2019 BV1 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.
Commenting rules and guidelines
We value the thoughts and opinions of our readers and welcome healthy discussions on our website. In order to maintain a respectful and positive community, we ask that all commenters follow these rules.