Asteroid 2016 CL264 passed by the Earth at a distance of 8 723 000 km
(22.7 times the average distance between the Earth and the Moon, or 5.83% of
the average distance between the Earth and the Sun), slightly after 6.05 pm
GMT on Monday 8 August 2016. There was no danger of
the asteroid hitting us, though had it done so it would have presented a
considerable threat. 2016 CL264
has an estimated equivalent
diameter of 280-900 m (i.e. a spherical body with the same mass would be 280-900 m in diameter), and an asteroid of this size
would be expected to pass through the atmosphere and directly impact the ground with a
force of 1000-40 000 megatons (60-2350 times the
explosive energy of
the Hiroshima bomb), causing devastation over a wide area and creating a
crater roughly 4-12 km across, and resulting in global climatic problems
that
could last for decades or even centuries.
2016 CL264 was discovered on 12 February 2016 (178 days before its closest approach to the Earth) by the University of Hawaii's PANSTARRS
telescope on Mount Haleakala on Maui. The designation 2016 CL264 implies
that it was the 6612th asteroid (asteroid L264) discovered in the first
half of February 2016 (period 2016 C).
2016 CL264 has a 773 day orbital period and an eccentric orbit that
takes it from 0.70 AU from the Sun (i.e. 70% of the average distance at
which the Earth orbits the Sun, slightly inside the orbit of the planet Venus) to 2.60 AU from the Sun (i.e. 260% of
the average distance at which the Earth orbits the Sun, considerably outside the orbit of the planet Mars). 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 faily common, with the
last thought to have happened in February 2014 and the next predicted in February 2031. As
an asteroid possibly larger than 150 m in diameter that occasionally
comes within 0.05 AU of the Earth, 2016 NG33 is also classified
as a Potentially Hazardous Asteroid.
See also...
Asteroid 2016 NG33 passes the Earth. 2016
NG33 passed by the Earth at a distance of 18 070 000 km
(47 times the average distance between the Earth and the Moon, or 12% of
the average distance between the Earth and the Sun), at about 2.50 am
GMT on Monday 8 August 2016. There...
The Perseid Meteors. The
Perseid Meteor shower lasts from late July to early September each
year, and are expected to be at a peak on Thursday 11- Friday12 August
2016. The Moon is expected to be quite bright on that night, however it
will be setting at about 1.00 am local...
Asteroid 2016 OA passes the Earth. Asteroid
2016 OA passed by the Earth at a distance of 1 734 000 km (4.50 times
the average distance between the Earth and the Moon, or 1.16% of
the average distance between the Earth and the Sun), at about 8.15 am GMT on Monday 18 July 2016...
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