Asteroid 2015 DP155 passed by the Earth at a distance of about 3 455 200
km (8.96 times the average distance between the Earth and the Moon, or 2.30% of the distance between the Earth and the Sun), slightly after 5.50 am
GMT on Monday 11 June 2018. There was no danger of
the asteroid hitting us, though were it to do so it would have
presented a significant threat. 2015 DP155 has an estimated
equivalent
diameter of 94-300 m (i.e. it is estimated that a spherical object
with
the same volume would be 90-300 m in diameter), and an object at the
upper end of this range would be predicted to be capable of
passing through the Earth's
atmosphere relatively intact, impacting the ground directly with an
explosion that would be about 65 000 times as powerful as the
Hiroshima
bomb. Such an impact would result in an impact crater over 4.5 km
in
diameter
and devastation on a global scale, as well as climatic effects that
would last years or even decades.
The calculated orbit of 2015 DP155. Minor Planet Center.
2015 DP155 was discovered on 17 February 2015 by the University of Hawaii's PANSTARRS telescope. The designation 2015 DP155
implies that the asteroid was the 3890th object (object P155) discovered in the second half of February 2015 (period 2015 D).
2015 DP155 has a 552 day orbital period and an eccentric orbit
tilted at an angle of 5.38° to the plane of the Solar System, which
takes it from 1.02 AU from the Sun (i.e. 102% of he average distance at
which the Earth orbits the Sun) to 1.60 AU from the Sun (i.e. 160% of
the
average distance at which the Earth orbits the Sun, and further from the
Sun than 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 extremely common, with the
last having occurred in April 2015 and the next predicted
in June 2021. As an asteroid probably larger than 150 m in diameter
that occasionally comes within 0.05 AU of the Earth, 2015 DP155 is also
classified as a Potentially Hazardous Asteroid. 2015 DP155 also has
occasional close encounters with the planet Mars, with the last having
occurred in March 2004, and the next predicted for April 2026.
See also...
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