Asteroid 2014 KC45 passed by the Earth at a distance of 88 260 km (23% of the distance between the Earth and the Moon), at about 8.10 am GMT on Wednesday 28 May 2014. There was no danger of the asteroid hitting us, and had it done so it would have presented no risk. 2014 KC45 is calculated to have an equivalent diameter of 2-8 m (i.e. a spherical body with the same volume would have diameter of 2-8 m), and an object of this size would be expected to break up in the atmosphere over 35 km above the Earth's surface, making it unlikely that even fragmentary material would reach the ground.
The calculated orbit of 2014 KC45. JPL Small Body Database Browser.
2014 KC45 was discovered on 27 May 2014 (the day before its closest approach to the Earth) by the University of Arizona's Catalina Sky Survey, which is located in the Catalina Mountains north of Tucson. The designation 2014 KC45 implies that it was the 1128th asteroid (asteroid C45) discovered in the second half of May 2014 (period 2014 K).
2014 KC45 has an 759 day orbital period and an eccentric orbit that takes it from 0.94 AU from the Sun (i.e. 94% of the average distance at which the Earth orbits the Sun) to 2.32 AU from the Sun (i.e. 232% of the average distance at which the Earth orbits the Sun, considerably more than distance at which the planet Mars orbits the Sun). It is therefore classed as an Apollo Group Asteroid (an asteroid that is on average further from the Sun than the Earth, but which does get closer).
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2014 KC45 has an 759 day orbital period and an eccentric orbit that takes it from 0.94 AU from the Sun (i.e. 94% of the average distance at which the Earth orbits the Sun) to 2.32 AU from the Sun (i.e. 232% of the average distance at which the Earth orbits the Sun, considerably more than distance at which the planet Mars orbits the Sun). It is therefore classed as an Apollo Group Asteroid (an asteroid that is on average further from the Sun than the Earth, but which does get closer).
See also...
Asteroid 2014 JE15 passes the Earth. Asteroid 2014 JE15 passed by the Earth at a distance of 15 810 000 km (over 40 times the average distance between the Earth and the...
Faye's Comet reaches its perihelion.Faye's Comet (Comet 4P/Faye) reached it's perihelion (the closest point in its orbit to the Sun) on 29 May 2014, for the first time in seven-and-a-half years. It presents no danger to the Earth, as it never comes within the orbit of Mars, and was not easily visible on this...
Asteroid 2014 HM2 passes the Earth.Asteroid 2014 HM2 passed by the Earth at a distance of 15 320 000 km (slightly under 40 times the average distance between the Earth...
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