Asteroid
2016 EM156 passed by the Earth at a distance of 531 500 km (1.38 times
the average distance between the Earth and the Moon, or 0.56% of
the average distance between the Earth and the Sun), slightly
before 6.25 am GMT on Wednesday 16 March 2016. There was no
danger
of the asteroid
hitting us, though had it done so it would have presented only a minor
threat. 2016 EM156 has an estimated equivalent diameter of 4-15 m (i.e.
it is estimated that a spherical object with the same volume would be 4-15 m in diameter), and an object of this size would be expected to
explode in an airburst (an explosion caused by superheating from
friction with the Earth's atmosphere, which is greater than that caused
by simply falling, due to the orbital momentum of the asteroid) in the
atmosphere between 43 km and 26 km above the ground, with only fragmentary
material reaching the Earth's surface.
The calculated orbit of 2016 EM156. JPL Small Body Database.
2016 EM156 was discovered on 14 March 2016 (two days 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 2016 EM156 implies that it was the 3912th asteroid (asteroid M156)
discovered in the first half of March 2016 (period 2016 E).
2016 EM156 has a 1032 day orbital period and an eccentric orbit tilted at an
angle of 1.78° to the plane of the Solar System that takes it from 0.96
AU from the Sun (i.e. 96% of the average distance at which the Earth
orbits the Sun) to 3.04 AU from the Sun (i.e. 304% of the average
distance at which the Earth orbits the Sun, slightly more than twice the
distance at which 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). This means that close
encounters between the asteroid and Earth are extremely common, with the
last having occurred in June 1999 and the next predicted in June 2027. 2015 EM156 also has occasional
close encounters with the planet Mars, with the next predicted in February 2028.
See also...
Asteroid 2016 FC1 passes the Earth. Asteroid
2016 FC1 passed by the Earth at a distance of 167 800 km (0.44 times
the average distance between the Earth and the Moon, or 0.11% of
the average distance between the Earth and the Sun; 147 800 km above the
orbit at which the satellites supporting...
Bright 'fireball' meteor seen over much of England. The UK Meteor Observation Network
has recieved roports of a bright fireball meteor being seen over much
of southern England...
Asteroid 2007 DM41 passes the Earth. Asteroid 2007 DM41 passed by the Earth at a distance of 12 400 000 km
(32.3 times the average distance between the Earth and the Moon, or
8.29% of the average distance between the Earth and the Sun), slightly
before 12.10 pm GMT on Tuesday 23...
Follow Sciency Thoughts on Facebook.
