Orbital period 836 days Absolute magnitude 16.4 | Discovered 9 July 2002 Orbits Sun | |
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Similar Sun, 99942 Apophis, Solar System, (308635) 2005 YU55, (29075) 1950 DA | ||
(89959) 2002 NT7 (also written (89959) 2002 NT7) is a near-Earth object (NEO) with a diameter of 1.2 miles (2 kilometers) that became the first object observed by NASA's NEO program to be assigned a positive rating on the Palermo Technical Impact Hazard Scale, for a potential impact on February 1, 2019. Despite inflammatory press reports, the object had a "low probability" of impact, approximately one in a million.
Further observations of the object quickly re-rated the threat lower. As of July 25, 2002, the hazard rating on the Palermo scale had been lowered to -0.25. However, the discovery of an object with an initial Palermo hazard rating of 0.06 was a historical event for the NEO observation program.
2002 NT7 was removed from the Sentry Risk Table on August 1, 2002.
It is now known that on January 13, 2019 the asteroid will safely pass 0.4078 AU (61,010,000 km; 37,910,000 mi) from the Earth.
On January 30, 2020 the asteroid will pass 0.02718 AU (4,066,000 km; 2,527,000 mi) from 2 Pallas.