Asteroid 2024 EL3 flew past Earth at just 0.09 LD

A newly-discovered asteroid designated 2023 EL3 flew past Earth at a distance of just 0.09 LD / 0.00024 AU (36 040 km / 22 394 miles) from the center of our planet at 10:31 UTC on March 11, 2024.

This is the 18^th known asteroid to fly past Earth within 1 lunar distance since the start of the year and the second so far this month.

2024 EL3 belongs to the Apollo group of asteroids. Characteristics that define the Apollo asteroids include having a semi-major axis greater than that of Earth (greater than 1 AU or approximately 150 million km (93 million miles)) and a perihelion distance (the closest point to the Sun in their orbit) of less than 1 AU, which allows their orbits to intersect with Earth’s orbit.

This object was first observed by ATLAS Chile, Rio Hurtado on March 12 — one day after it made the close approach to our planet.

Featured image credit: CNEOS