Asteroid 2002 NT7: Potential Earth Impact In 2019 Ruled Out

Don Yeomans
July 28, 2002

With the processing of a few more observations through July 28, we can now rule out any Earth impact possibilities for February 1, 2019. While we cannot yet completely rule out an impact possibility on February 1, 2060, it seems very likely that this possibility will be soon ruled out as well as additional positional observations are processed. Because the SENTRY system tracks a multitude of test particles in an effort to map the uncertainties of the asteroid's future positions, some of these test particles can take slightly different dynamical paths. Hence there are currently two entries for 2060 in our IMPACT RISK table (http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/risk). The entry with the higher risk (larger Palermo Technical Scale) would be the value that would then take precedence.

Asteroid 2002 NY40

NASA Science News
July 30, 2002

Relax, there's no danger of a collision, but it will be close enough to see through binoculars: a big space rock, not far from Earth.

Astronomers discovered the nearby asteroid, named 2002 NY40--not to be confused with better-known 2002 NT7--on July 14th. It measures about 800 meters across, and follows an orbit that ranges from the asteroid belt to the inner solar system. On August 18th, the asteroid will glide past our planet only 1.3 times farther away than the Moon.

"Flybys like this happen every 50 years or so," says Don Yeomans, the manager of NASA's Near-Earth Object Program office at JPL. The last time (that we know of) was August 31, 1925, when another 800-meter asteroid passed by just outside the Moon's orbit. In those days there were no dedicated asteroid hunters--the object, 2001 CU11, wasn't discovered until 77 years later. At the time of the flyby, no one even knew it was happening.

2002 NY40 is different. We know the asteroid is coming, and astronomers have time to prepare.

For more information about 2002 NY40, including an up-to-date ephemeris for sky watchers, please visit JPL's Near-Earth Object Program web site.