Discovery date September 5, 2010 Minor planet category Apollo NEO | MPC designation 2010 RF12 Discovered 5 September 2010 | |
Discovered by Mount Lemmon Survey (G96) Aphelion 1.2601 AU (188.51 Gm) (Q) Perihelion 0.86087 AU (128.784 Gm) (q) Similar 2002 MN, (410777) 2009 FD, 2010 AL30, (29075) 1950 DA, 1972 Great Daylight Fireball | ||
Asteroid 2010 rf12 earth flyby inside moon s orbit
2010 RF12 is a near-Earth asteroid that passed between Earth and the Moon on September 8, 2010 at 21:12 UTC, approaching Earth within 79,000 kilometres (49,000 mi) above Antarctica.
NASA's Near Earth Program estimates its size to be 7 metres (23 ft) in diameter with a mass of around 500 tonnes. 2010 RF12 will make many more close approaches to Earth, with the approach of September 5−6, 2095 having a 6% chance (1 in 16) of colliding with Earth. The nominal JPL Earth approach in 2095 is 0.000058 AU (8,700 km; 5,400 mi) with Earth having a radius of approximately 6,400 kilometres (4,000 mi). Due to the asteroid's relatively small size, there is little danger of harm arising from such an impact, rather there would be an impressive fireball as the rock air burst in the upper atmosphere. The power of the airburst would be somewhere between the Sutter's Mill meteorite and the Chelyabinsk meteor. The nominal NEODyS orbit shows that the asteroid will pass 0.0001 AU (15,000 km; 9,300 mi) from Earth on September 6, 2095, with an apparent magnitude of ~12.
The asteroid was discovered by the Catalina Sky Survey near Tucson, Arizona on September 5, 2010 along with 2010 RX30.