Asteroid 2019 DF flew past Earth at 0.47 lunar distances
Image credit: CNEOS
A newly discovered asteroid designated 2019 DF flew past Earth at a distance of 0.47 LD / 0.00120 AU (179 517 km / 111 546 miles) at 21:21 UTC on February 26, 2019. This is the second known asteroid to flyby Earth within 1 lunar distance this month and 7th since the start of the year.
2019 DF belongs to the Apollo group of asteroids. It was first observed at Mt. Lemmon Survey at 09:58 UTC on February 26, 11 hours before its closest approach to our planet.
The asteroid has an estimated diameter between 3 and 6.7 m (9.8 – 21.9 feet) and it flew past us at a speed (relative to the Earth) of 15.06 km/s.
[ Ephemeris | Orbit Diagram | Orbital Elements | Mission Design | Physical Parameters | Close-Approach Data ]
| NEO | DATE / TIME UTC | DISTANCE LD | AU | Diameter | ||||
| 2019 DF | February 26 @ 21:21 UTC ± 00:09 | 0.47 | 0.00120 | 3.0 m – 6.7 m | ||||
| 2019 CN5 | February 11 @ 07:23 UTC ± 00:03 | 0.31 | 0.00079 | 7.3 m – 16 m | ||||
| 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 | ||||
References
Asteroid 2019 DF 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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