2010 AL30
Encyclopedia
is a near-Earth asteroid that was discovered on 10 January 2010.
Italian scientists Ernesto Guido and Giovanni Sostero told RIA Novosti that it had an orbital period of almost exactly one year and might be a spent rocket booster. However, it was determined that it is a near-Earth asteroid.
On January 13, 2010 at 1246 UT it passed at about 122000 km (75,807.5 mi), about 1/3 of the distance from the Earth to the Moon (or 0.33 LD
). It is approximately 10–15 m (32.8–49.2 ft) wide.
If 2010 AL30 had entered the Earth's atmosphere, it would have created an air burst
equivalent to between 50 kT and 100 kT (kilotons of TNT
). The Nagasaki "Fat Man
" atom bomb had a yield between 13-18kT.
Italian scientists Ernesto Guido and Giovanni Sostero told RIA Novosti that it had an orbital period of almost exactly one year and might be a spent rocket booster. However, it was determined that it is a near-Earth asteroid.
On January 13, 2010 at 1246 UT it passed at about 122000 km (75,807.5 mi), about 1/3 of the distance from the Earth to the Moon (or 0.33 LD
Lunar distance (astronomy)
In astronomy, a lunar distance is a measurement of the distance from the Earth to the Moon. The average distance from Earth to the Moon is 384,400 kilometers...
). It is approximately 10–15 m (32.8–49.2 ft) wide.
If 2010 AL30 had entered the Earth's atmosphere, it would have created an air burst
Air burst
An air burst is the detonation of an explosive device such as an anti-personnel artillery shell or a nuclear weapon in the air instead of on contact with the ground or target or a delayed armor piercing explosion....
equivalent to between 50 kT and 100 kT (kilotons of TNT
TNT equivalent
TNT equivalent is a method of quantifying the energy released in explosions. The ton of TNT is a unit of energy equal to 4.184 gigajoules, which is approximately the amount of energy released in the detonation of one ton of TNT...
). The Nagasaki "Fat Man
Fat Man
"Fat Man" is the codename for the atomic bomb that was detonated over Nagasaki, Japan, by the United States on August 9, 1945. It was the second of the only two nuclear weapons to be used in warfare to date , and its detonation caused the third man-made nuclear explosion. The name also refers more...
" atom bomb had a yield between 13-18kT.
See also
- Near-Earth objectNear-Earth objectA near-Earth object is a Solar System object whose orbit brings it into close proximity with the Earth. All NEOs have a perihelion distance less than 1.3 AU. They include a few thousand near-Earth asteroids , near-Earth comets, a number of solar-orbiting spacecraft, and meteoroids large enough to...
- List of notable asteroids#Record-setting close approaches to Earth
External links
- 2010 AL30 at Harvard University's Minor Planet CenterMinor Planet CenterThe Minor Planet Center operates at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory , which is part of the Center for Astrophysics along with the Harvard College Observatory ....
- Mystery object 2010 AL30 to pass within 130,000 km of Earth