Asteroid 2024 RL3 flew past Earth at just 0.1 LD

A newly discovered asteroid designated 2024 RL3 flew past Earth at a distance of just 0.106 LD or 0.0027 AU (40 835 km / 25 373 miles) from the center of our planet at 17:15 UTC on September 4, 2024.

2024 RL3 was first observed at Catalina Sky Survey, Arizona at 09:44 UTC on September 5 — 16 hours after it made a close approach.

The object belongs to the Apollo group of asteroids and has an estimated diameter between 4.2 to 9.4 m (13.8 – 30.8 feet).

This is the 58^th known asteroid to fly past Earth within 1 lunar distance since the start of the year and the second so far this month.

The flyby occurred 11 hours and 32 minutes after asteroid 2024 RW1 impacted Earth’s atmosphere over the northern Philippines. This was the 9^th predicted Earth impactor in history.

Four of 8 previous Earth impactors were detected between March 11, 2022, and today, showing advancement in our collective ability to detect impacting asteroids.

References:

Asteroid 2024 RL3 at Minor Planet Center; at CNEOS

Featured image credit: CNEOS