Asteroid 2019 BZ3 flew past Earth at 0.13 lunar distances
A newly discovered asteroid designated 2019 BZ3 flew past Earth at a very close distance of 0.13 LD / 0.00032 AU (47 871 km / 29 745 miles) on January 27, 2019. This is the 5th known asteroid to flyby Earth within 1 lunar distance since the start of the year.
Asteroid 2019 BZ3 was first observed at Mt. Lemmon Survey, Arizona on January 28, 2019, one day after it made its close approach to our planet.
This near-Earth object (NEO) belongs to the Apollo group of asteroids and has an estimated diameter between 5 and 11 m (16 – 36 feet).
It flew past us at a speed (relative to the Earth) of 11.37 km/s at 23:29 UTC.
[ Ephemeris | Orbit Diagram | Orbital Elements | Physical Parameters | Close-Approach Data ]
| NEO | DATE / TIME UTC | DISTANCE LD | AU | Diameter | ||||
| (2019 BZ3) | January 27 @ 23:29 ± < 00:01 | 0.13 | 0.00032 | 5.0 – 11 m | ||||
| (2019 BV1) | January 24 @ 20:53 ± < 00:01 | 0.35 | 0.00090 | 4.9 – 11 m | ||||
| (2019 BO) | January 16 @ 01:13 ± 00:02 | 0.18 | 0.00046 | 6.6 – 15 m | ||||
| (2019 AE9) | January 12 @ 11:09 ± < 00:01 | 0.26 | 0.00067 | 9.9 – 22 m | ||||
| (2019 AS5) | January 8 @ 00:37 ± < 00:01 | 0.04 | 0.00010 | 0.95 – 2.1 m | ||||
Reference:
Asteroid 2019 BZ3 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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