Asteroid 2019 NK1 flew past Earth at 0.69 LD

asteroid-2019-nk1

A newly discovered asteroid designated 2019 NK1 flew past Earth at 0.69 LD / 0.00177 AU (264 788 km / 164 531 miles) on July 2, 2019. This is the first known asteroid to flyby Earth within 1 lunar distance since June 8. A similarly sized asteroid was discovered on June 28 and designated 2019 MO; this object entered Earth's atmosphere and exploded south of Puerto Rico at 21:25 UTC, 12 hours after it was discovered.

2019 NK1 was first observed at Mt. Lemmon Survey on July 4, 2019.

Its estimated diameter is between 2.9 and 6.5 m (9.5 – 21.3 feet) and it belongs to the Apollo group of asteroids.

The object flew past us unnoticeably at 09:48 UTC on July 2 at a speed (relative to the Earth) of 8.27 km/s.

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

This is the 27th known asteroid to flyby Earth within 1 LD since the start of the year.

 

NEO DATE / TIME UTC DISTANCE LD | AU  Diameter (m)
2019 NK1 July 2 @ 09:48 UTC ± 00:05 0.69 | 0.00177 2.9 – 6.5 m
2019 LW4 June 8 @ 17:04 ± < 00:01 0.65 | ​​0.00166 9.3 – 21 m
2019 LY4 June 6 @ 01:30 ± < 00:01 0.22 | ​​0.00056 7.3 – 16
2019 KT May 28 @ 03:48 ± < 00:01 0.85 | ​0.00217  13 – 29
2019 JH2 May 16 @ 00:06 ± < 00:01 0.19 | ​0.00048  3.1 – 7
2019 JY2 May 5 @ 17:12 ± < 00:01 0.38 | 0.00098 3.3 – 7.3
2019 JX1 May 2 @ 12:39 ± 00:02 0.47 | 0.00120 3.8 – 8.6
2019 JK April 30 @ 08:12 UTC ± 00:01 0.69 | 0.00178 7.1 – 16
2019 HE April 20 @ 21:12 ± < 00:01 0.58 | 0.00149 13 – 30
2019 GC6 April 18 @ 06:39 ± 00:29 0.57 | 0.00147 13 – 28
2019 GN20 April 12 @ 07:06 ± < 00:01 0.98 | 0.00253 14 – 31
2019 FP21 March 31 @ 19:00  ±  07:46 0.93 | 0.00238  3 – 6.6
2019 FV1 March 31 @ 05:27 ± < 00:01 0.87 | 0.00223 4.6 – 10
2019 FC1 March 28 @ 05:46 ± < 00:01 0.27 | 0.00069  20 – 45
2019 FQ March 23 @ 18:17 UTC ± < 00:01 0.86 | 0.00220  10 – 23
2019 EA2 March 22 @ 01:53 UTC ± 00:02 0.80 | 0.00205 18 – 40
2019 FA March 16 @ 01:14 UTC ± < 00:01 0.60 | 0.00154 4.9 – 11
2019 EN2 March 13 @ 23:38 UTC ± < 00:01 0.86 | 0.00221 8 – 18
2019 EH1 March 1 @ 17:38 UTC ± < 00:01 0.06 | 0.00016 2.5 – 5.7
2019 DF February 26 @ 21:21 UTC  ± 00:09 0.47 | 0.00120 3.0 – 6.7
2019 DG2 Febraury 26 @ 07:39 UTC ± 07:39 0.61 | 0.00158 5.4 – 12
2019 CN5 February 11 @ 07:23 UTC ± 00:03 0.31 | 0.00079 7.3 – 16
2019 BZ3 January 27 @ 23:29 ± < 00:01 0.13 | 0.00032  4.8 – 11
2019 BV1 January 24 @ 20:53 ± < 00:01 0.35 | 0.00090  4.8 – 11
2019 BO January 16 @ 01:13 ± 00:02 0.18 | 0.00046  6.3 – 14
2019 AE9 January 12 @ 11:09 ± < 00:01 0.26 | 0.00067  9.9 – 22
2019 AS5 January 8 @ 00:37 ± < 00:01 0.04 | 0.00010  0.92 – 2.1

 

References

Asteroid 2019 NK1 at CNEOS; at Minor Planet Center

Featured image credit: CNEOS

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