Asteroid 2019 GN20 flew past Earth at 0.98 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 GN20 flew past Earth at a distance of 0.98 LD / 0.00252 AU (376 986 km / 234 248 miles) on April 12, 2019.
2019 GN20 belongs to the Apollo group of asteroids. It was first observed at Catalina Sky Survey on April 9 and made known to the public by CNEOS on April 15.
The asteroid has an estimated diameter between 14 and 31 m (46 – 102 feet) and it flew past Earth at a speed (relative to the Earth) of 14.81 km/s at 07:06 UTC on April 12.
[ Ephemeris | Orbit Diagram | Orbital Elements | Mission Design | Physical Parameters | Close-Approach Data ]
This is the 17th known asteroid to flyby Earth within 1 lunar distance since the start of the year, including 2019 GC6 expected to flyby us at a distance of 0.57 LD on April 18.
| NEO | DATE / TIME UTC | DISTANCE LD | AU | Diameter | ||||
| 2019 GC6 | April 18 @ 06:39 ± 00:29 | 0.57 | 0.00147 | 13 – 28 m | ||||
| 2019 GN20 | April 12 @ 07:06 ± < 00:01 | 0.98 | 0.00253 | 14 – 31 m | ||||
| 2019 FV1 | March 31 @ 05:27 ± < 00:01 | 0.87 | 0.00223 | 4.6 – 10 m | ||||
| 2019 FC1 | March 28 @ 05:46 ± < 00:01 | 0.27 | 0.00069 | 20 – 45 m | ||||
| 2019 FQ | March 23 @ 18:17 UTC ± < 00:01 | 0.86 | 0.00220 | 10 – 23 m | ||||
| 2019 EA2 | March 22 @ 01:53 UTC ± 00:02 | 0.80 | 0.00205 | 18 – 40 m | ||||
| 2019 FA | March 16 @ 01:14 UTC ± < 00:01 | 0.60 | 0.00154 | 4.9 – 11 m | ||||
| 2019 EN2 | March 13 @ 23:38 UTC ± < 00:01 | 0.86 | 0.00221 | 8 – 18 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 – 6.7 m | ||||
| 2019 DG2 | Febraury 26 @ 07:39 UTC ± 07:39 | 0.61 | 0.00158 | 5.4 – 12 m | ||||
| 2019 CN5 | February 11 @ 07:23 UTC ± 00:03 | 0.31 | 0.00079 | 7.3 – 16 m | ||||
| 2019 BZ3 | January 27 @ 23:29 ± < 00:01 | 0.13 | 0.00032 | 4.8 – 11 m | ||||
| 2019 BV1 | January 24 @ 20:53 ± < 00:01 | 0.35 | 0.00090 | 4.8 – 11 m | ||||
| 2019 BO | January 16 @ 01:13 ± 00:02 | 0.18 | 0.00046 | 6.3 – 14 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 | 0.92 – 2.1 m | ||||
References:
Asteroid 2019 GN20 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.