MPC designation 2015 AZ43 Observation arc 45 days Absolute magnitude 23.5 Asteroid group Apollo asteroid | Discovery date 11 January 2015 Minor planet category Apollo, NEO Discovered 11 January 2015 | |
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Aphelion 2.75773 AU (412.551 Gm) (Q) Similar (33342) 1998 WT24, WISE J22460757‑0526350, Kepler‑440b, 22P/Kopff, 1566 Icarus | ||
2015 AZ43 (also written 2015 AZ43) is an Apollo near-Earth asteroid roughly 70 meters in diameter. On 10 February 2015 with a 29.5-day observation arc, it showed a 1 in 5,880 chance of impacting Earth on 27 February 2107. However, the NEODyS nominal best-fit orbit shows that 2015 AZ43 will be 2.8 AU (420,000,000 km; 260,000,000 mi) from Earth on 27 February 2107. A (non-impacting) Earth close approach in 2056 makes future trajectories diverge. It was removed from the JPL Sentry Risk Table on 23 February 2015 using JPL solution 26 with an observation arc of 40 days that included radar data.
With an absolute magnitude of 23.5, the asteroid is about 50–120 meters in diameter.
2015 flyby
2015 AZ43 was discovered on 11 January 2015 by Pan-STARRS at an apparent magnitude of 20 using a 1.8-meter (71 in) Ritchey–Chrétien telescope. On 15 February 2015 the asteroid passed 0.0197 AU (2,950,000 km; 1,830,000 mi) from Earth. The Goldstone Deep Space Network detected the asteroid on 18–19 February 2015, but the signal was not strong enough for delay-Doppler imaging.