Supriya Ghosh (Editor)

2015 AZ43

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Discovered by
  
Pan-STARRS (F51)

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

Discoverer
  
Pan-STARRS

2015 AZ43

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.

References

2015 AZ43 Wikipedia