Discovery date January 10, 2010 Minor planet category Apollo NEO Semi-major axis 1.0466 AU (156.57 Gm) Discovered 10 January 2010 Argument of perihelion 97.711° Absolute magnitude 27.2 | Alternative names none Aphelion 1.3688 AU (204.77 Gm) Eccentricity 0.30787 Inclination 3.83° Mean anomaly 156.409° Asteroid group Apollo asteroid | |
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Similar 2009 DD45, 2010 GA6, 2004 FH, 4581 Asclepius, 2004 XP14 | ||
2010 AL30 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 Earth at 0.0008624 AU (129,010 km; 80,170 mi), about 1/3 of the distance from the Earth to the Moon (or 0.33 LD).
Based an estimated diameter of 10–15 m (33–49 ft), 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 13–18 kT.
It has an uncertainty parameter of 2 and has been observed by radar. Radar observations show the asteroid is elongated and is about 30 meters in diameter. It may be a contact binary.