('' prov. designation:'' ) is a

near-Earth object A near-Earth object (NEO) is any small Solar System body whose orbit brings it into proximity with Earth. By convention, a Solar System body is a NEO if its closest approach to the Sun (perihelion) is less than 1.3 astronomical units (AU). ...

with a diameter of 1.4 kilometers and

potentially hazardous asteroid A potentially hazardous object (PHO) is a near-Earth object – either an asteroid or a comet – with an orbit that can make close approaches to the Earth and is large enough to cause significant regional damage in the event of impact. They are ...

of the

Apollo group Apollo Education Group, Inc. is an American corporation based in the South Phoenix area of Phoenix, Arizona, with an additional corporate office in Chicago, Illinois. The company owns and operates several higher-learning institutions, including ...

. It has a well determined orbit with an

observation arc In observational astronomy, the observation arc (or arc length) of a Solar System body is the time period between its earliest and latest observations, used for tracing the body's path. It is usually given in days or years. The term is mostly use ...

of 64 years including

precovery In astronomy, precovery (short for pre-discovery recovery) is the process of finding the image of an object in images or photographic plates predating its discovery, typically for the purpose of calculating a more accurate orbit. This happens mos ...

images by

Palomar Observatory Palomar Observatory is an astronomical research observatory in San Diego County, California, United States, in the Palomar Mountain Range. It is owned and operated by the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). Research time at the observat ...

dating back to 1954. became the first object observed by

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

's NEO program to be assigned a positive rating on both the

Torino Scale The Torino scale is a method for categorizing the impact hazard associated with near-Earth objects (NEOs) such as asteroids and comets. It is intended as a communication tool for astronomers and the public to assess the seriousness of collision pre ...

and the Palermo Technical Impact Hazard Scale for a small chance of an impact on 1 February 2019, although it has now been known for years that it would pass Earth at roughly on 13 January 2019 with an uncertainty region of around ±108 km.

Discovery

It was discovered on 9 July 2002 by the Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research team (LINEAR) at the U.S. Lincoln Laboratory Experimental Test Site near Socorro, New Mexico. At the time of discovery it only had a 6-day observation arc of 9–14 July, which poorly constrained possible future positions of the asteroid. Despite inflammatory press reports, the object had a "low probability" of impact, approximately one in a million, for 1 February 2019. On 22 July 2002, NEODyS posted a positive 0.18 Palermo Scale rating. Further observations of the object quickly lowered the probability. On 25 July 2002, the hazard rating on the Palermo scale was lowered to −0.25. However, the discovery of the object with a Palermo initial rating of 0.06 was a historical event for the NEO observation program. was removed from the Sentry Risk Table on 1 August 2002 (23 days after discovery), meaning there is no risk of an impact by it in the next 100 years. On 13 January 2019, the asteroid safely passed from Earth with a 3-sigma uncertainty region of about ±108 km. Between 1900 and 2195 the closest approach to Earth will occur on 15 January 2099 at a distance of roughly with an uncertainty region of about ±430 km. On 30 January 2020, the asteroid safely passed from

2 Pallas Pallas (minor-planet designation: 2 Pallas) is the second asteroid to have been discovered, after Ceres. It is believed to have a mineral composition similar to carbonaceous chondrite meteorites, like Ceres, though significantly less hyd ...

References

External links

Simulation of the shrinking uncertainty region for 2019 Jan 28
Peter Thomas * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:2002 NT7 089959 089959 089959 089959 20190113 20020709