Asteroid 2014 HX164 passed by the Earth at a distance of about 428 900 km (1.12 times the average distance between the Earth and the Moon), slightly after 0.45 am GMT on Tuesday 6 May 2014. There was no danger of the asteroid hitting us, and if it had done so it would have presented little threat. 2014 HX164 has an estimated equivalent diameter of 6-22 m (i.e. a spherical object with the same volume would be 6-22 m in diameter) and an object of this size would be expected to break up in the Earth's atmosphere between 38 and 20 km above the planet's surface, with only fragmentary material reaching the ground.
The calculated orbit of 2014 HX164. JPL Small Body Database Browser.
2014 HX164 was discovered on 28 April 2014 (eight days before its closest approach to the Earth) by the University of Hawaii's PANSTARRS telescope on Mount Haleakala. The designation 2014 HX164 implies that it was the 4124th asteroid (asteroid X164) discovered in the second half of April 2014 (period 2014 H).
2014 HX164 has an 634 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 1.95 AU from the Sun (i.e. 195% of the average distance at which the Earth orbits the Sun, considerably more than the 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 JR25 passed by the Earth at a distance of 861 100 km (2.24 times the average distance between the Earth and the Moon)...
Asteroid 2014 HO132 passed the Earth at a distance of 824 300 km (2.14 times the average distance between the Earth and the Moon) at about 8.10 am GMT on Monday 5 May 2014. There was no danger of the asteroid hitting us, though if it had it would have presented...
Asteroid 2014 JY30 passed by the Earth at a distance of 3 275 000 km (a little over 8.5 times the average distance between the Earth and...
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