Asteroid 2019 EA2 to flyby Earth at 0.8 LD on March 22

ByTeo Blašković
asteroid-2019-ea2

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 EA2 will flyby Earth at a distance of 0.80 LD / 0.00204 AU (305 179 km / 189 629 miles) on March 22, 2019. This is one of the rare asteroids our sky surveys have discovered before its close approach to our planet.

This object was first observed at Mt. Lemmon Survey on March 9, 2019. It belongs to the Aten group of asteroids and has an estimated diameter between 17 and 37 m (55.7 – 121.3 feet).

The asteroid is expected to flyby us at a speed of 5.37 km/s (relative to the Earth) at 01:58 UTC on March 22.

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

This will be the 10th known asteroid to flyby within 1 lunar distance since the start of the year, according to data available March 13.

 

NEO DATE / TIME UTC DISTANCE LD | AU  Diameter
2019 EA2 March 22 @ 01:58 UTC ± 05:30 0.80 | 0.00204 17 – 37 m
2019 EH1 March 1 @ 17:38 UTC ± < 00:01 0.06 | 0.00016 2.5 – 5.7 m
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

 

Reference:

Asteroid 2019 EA2 at Minor Planet Center; at CNEOS

Teo Blašković founded The Watchers in 2011 and edited it until 2026, covering seismic and volcanic activity, extreme weather, space weather and near-Earth objects. Articles on this page are his archive.

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