Two Small Asteroids Safely Pass Earth This Week

Two small asteroids recently discovered by astronomers at the NASA-funded Catalina Sky Survey (CSS) near Tucson, Arizona, are safely passing by Earth within one lunar distance this week.

The first of this week's close-approaching asteroids - discovered by CSS on Feb. 4 - is designated asteroid 2018 CC. Its close approach to Earth came Tuesday (Feb. 6) at 12:10 p.m. PST (3:10 p.m. EST) at a distance of about 114,000 miles (184,000 kilometers). The asteroid is estimated to be between 50 and 100 feet (15 and 30 meters) in size.

Of potentially greater interest is asteroid 2018 CB,which will also pass closely by Earth on Friday, Feb. 9, at around 2:30 p.m. PST (5:30 p.m. EST), at a distance of about 39,000 miles (64,000 kilometers), which is less than one-fifth the distance of Earth to the Moon). The asteroid, which is estimated to be between 50 and 130 feet (15 and 40 meters) in size, was also discovered by CSS on Feb. 4.

"Although 2018 CB is quite small, it might well be larger than the asteroid that entered the atmosphere over Chelyabinsk, Russia, almost exactly five years ago, in 2013," said Paul Chodas, manager of the Center for Near-Earth Object Studies at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

"Asteroids of this size do not often approach this close to our planet - maybe only once or twice a year."

JPL hosts the Center for Near-Earth Object Studies for NASA's Near-Earth Object Observations Program, an element of the Planetary Defense Coordination Office within the agency's Science Mission Directorate.

Related Links
Planetary Defense Coordination Office
Asteroid and Comet Mission News, Science and Technology

Tweet

Thanks for being there;
We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain.

With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords.

Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year.

If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.

SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter
$5+ Billed Monthly

paypal only

SpaceDaily Contributor
$5 Billed Once

credit card or paypal

Asteroid to pass by Earth in Feb.
Washington (UPI) Jan 22, 2018
A half-mile-wide asteroid is scheduled to make a close pass by Earth next month. According to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, asteroid 2002 AJ129 will make its closest approach to Earth on Feb. 4 at 4:30 p.m. ET. The intermediate-sized space rock will fly within 2.6 million miles of Earth, roughly 10 times the distance between Earth and the moon. The asteroid was first spotted in 2002 by the Near Earth Asteroid Tracking mission, a NASA-sponsored asteroid survey at the Maui Space Survei ... read more