TECH & SCIENCE

ASTEROID UP TO 1,800 FEET WIDE IS ONE OF 14 TO PASS EARTH THIS WEEK

BY ROSIE MCCALL ON 1/7/20 


 ACCORDING to CNEOS data, the object (2019 UO) is projected to fly by Earth at 9.4 kilometers per second on Friday January 10, 2020.

It is expected to do so at a minimum possible close-approach distance of 0.03376 astronomical units (au) or 13.07 lunar distance (LD), meaning it is a little over 13 times the Earth-Moon distance.

That is a minimum distance of 3,138,000 miles or 5,050,000 kilometers. The Earth has a circumference of 24,901 miles or 40,075 kilometers.

The closest miss this week will be on Thursday January 9, 2020, with object (2020 AT1) with a minimum possible close-approach distance of 2.46 LD or 0.00631 au—which is still 23 times as long as the circumference of the Earth.

It is estimated to be between 8.3 and 19 meters wide.