Asteroid 2014 MG6 passed by the Earth at a distance of 3 647 000 km (9.49 times the average distance between the Earth and the Moon), slightly before 2.45 pm GMT on Friday 27 June 2014. There was no danger of the asteroid hitting us, though had it done so it would have presented only a moderate threat. 2014 MG6 has an estimated equivalent diameter of 11-34 m (i.e. it is estimated that a spherical object with the same volume would be 11-34 m in diameter), and an object of this size would be expected to break up in the atmosphere between 31 and 15 km above the ground, with only fragmentary material reaching the Earth's surface.
The calculated orbit of 2014 MG6. JPL Small Body Database Browser.
2014 MG6 was discovered on 23 June 2014 (four days before its closest approach to the Earth) by the University of Arizona's Mt. Lemmon Survey at the Steward Observatory on Mount Lemmon in the Catalina Mountains north of Tucson.. The designation 2014 MG6 implies that it was the 157th asteroid (asteroid G6) discovered in the second half of June 2014 (period 2014 M).
While 2014 MG6 occasionally comes near to the Earth, it does not actually cross our orbital path. It has an elliptical 625 day orbit, tilted to the plane of the Solar System, that takes it from 1.04 AU from the Sun (1.04 times the distance at which the Earth orbits the Sun), slightly outside our orbit, to 1.82 AU from the Sun, (1.82 times the distance at which the Earth orbits the Sun, slightly more than the distance at which the planet Mars orbits the Sun). As a Near Earth Object that remains strictly outside the orbit of the Earth it is classed as an Amor Family Asteroid. This means that close encounters between the asteroid and Earth are fairly common, with the next predicted to occur in June 2026.
See also...
Asteroid 2014 ME6 passes the Earth.
Asteroid 2014 ME6 passed by the Earth at a distance of 3 394 000 km (8.83 times the average distance between the Earth and the...
Comet C/2013 UQ4 (Catalina) reaches its perihelion.
Comet C/2013 UQ4 (Catalina) will reach its perihelion (the closest point on its orbit to the Sun) on Sunday 6 July 2014. The comet will...
Asteroid 2014 KN4 passes the Earth.
Asteroid 2014 KN4 passed by the Earth at a distance of 16 220 000 km (42.25 times the average distance between the Earth and the...
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While 2014 MG6 occasionally comes near to the Earth, it does not actually cross our orbital path. It has an elliptical 625 day orbit, tilted to the plane of the Solar System, that takes it from 1.04 AU from the Sun (1.04 times the distance at which the Earth orbits the Sun), slightly outside our orbit, to 1.82 AU from the Sun, (1.82 times the distance at which the Earth orbits the Sun, slightly more than the distance at which the planet Mars orbits the Sun). As a Near Earth Object that remains strictly outside the orbit of the Earth it is classed as an Amor Family Asteroid. This means that close encounters between the asteroid and Earth are fairly common, with the next predicted to occur in June 2026.
See also...
Asteroid 2014 ME6 passes the Earth.Asteroid 2014 ME6 passed by the Earth at a distance of 3 394 000 km (8.83 times the average distance between the Earth and the...
Comet C/2013 UQ4 (Catalina) reaches its perihelion.Comet C/2013 UQ4 (Catalina) will reach its perihelion (the closest point on its orbit to the Sun) on Sunday 6 July 2014. The comet will...
Asteroid 2014 KN4 passes the Earth.Asteroid 2014 KN4 passed by the Earth at a distance of 16 220 000 km (42.25 times the average distance between the Earth and the...
Follow Sciency Thoughts on Facebook.