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2020 LD
Near-Earth asteroid / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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2020 LD is an Apollo near-Earth asteroid roughly 140 meters (460 feet) in diameter. It was discovered on 7 June 2020 when the asteroid was about 0.03 AU (4.5 million km; 12 LD) from Earth and had a solar elongation of 154 degrees. The glare of the Sun had masked the approach of the asteroid since November 2019.[3][lower-alpha 1] The asteroid passed closest approach to Earth on 5 June 2020 at a distance of 0.002 AU (300 thousand km; 0.78 LD).[2] The close approach distance is now known with an accuracy of roughly ± 1000 km. This is the largest asteroid to pass closer than the Moon this year and possibly the largest since (308635) 2005 YU55 in November 2011.[lower-alpha 2][lower-alpha 3] The asteroid makes close approaches to Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars.[2] It will be brighter than apparent magnitude 24 until 18 July 2020.
![]() Orbital diagram of 2020 LD. It crosses the orbit of all four inner planets of the Solar System. | |
Discovery[1] | |
---|---|
Discovered by | ATLAS–MLO (T08) |
Discovery date | 7 June 2020 |
Designations | |
2020 LD | |
NEO · Apollo[2] | |
Orbital characteristics[2] | |
Epoch 2020-Jun-09 (JD 2459009.5) | |
Uncertainty parameter 8 | |
Observation arc | 11 days |
Aphelion | 2.20 AU |
Perihelion | 0.242 |
1.22 AU | |
Eccentricity | 0.801 |
1.35 yr | |
35.5° | |
Inclination | 3.44° |
73.25° | |
46.33° | |
Earth MOID | 0.0017 AU (250 thousand km) |
Mercury MOID | 0.00139 AU (208 thousand km) |
Venus MOID | 0.00148 AU (221 thousand km) |
Mars MOID | 0.00336 AU (503 thousand km) |
Jupiter MOID | 2.92 AU (437 million km) |
Physical characteristics | |
Mean diameter | 89–200 m (CNEOS) ~140 m (460 ft) |
22.4±0.2[2] | |
With a short 6 day observation arc it was possible that the asteroid had passed 0.00008 AU (12 thousand km; 0.031 LD) from Earth in June 1918 or would pass 0.0001 AU (15 thousand km) from Venus in April 2024.[4]
With a 11-day observation arc, the Sentry Risk Table lists a 1 in 9 million chance of impact on 7 June 2109.[5]
(501647) 2014 SD224 is another similarly sized asteroid whose close approach will not be masked by the Sun this year.