{"id":798242,"date":"2025-09-16T09:41:28","date_gmt":"2025-09-16T14:41:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/?p=798242"},"modified":"2025-09-16T09:41:28","modified_gmt":"2025-09-16T14:41:28","slug":"asteroid-2025-rl2-to-pass-earth-at-0-5-lunar-distances-on-september-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/?p=798242","title":{"rendered":"Asteroid 2025 RL2 to pass Earth at 0.5 lunar distances on September 19"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>This is the 100<sup>th<\/sup> known asteroid to fly past Earth within 1 lunar distance (LD) since the start of the year and the 9<sup>th<\/sup> so far this month.<\/p>\n<p>Asteroid 2025 RL2 was first observed at Kitt Peak-Bok, Arizona on September 13, 2025 \u2014 five days before its close approach to Earth.<\/p>\n<p>The object belongs to the Aten group of asteroids, characterized by semi-major axes smaller than Earth\u2019s (a <\/p>\n<p>The close approach will take place at 08:57 UTC \u00b138 minutes at a speed of 26 km\/s (93 600 km\/h \/ 58 160 mph) relative to Earth.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Asteroid RL2 close approach on September 19, 2025. Credit: CNEOS<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"699\" alt=\"asteroid rl2 orbit diagram september 19 2025\" class=\"wp-image-233718 perfmatters-lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/watchers.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/asteroid-rl2-orbit-diagram-september-19-2025-1-1024x699.webp\" srcset=\"https:\/\/watchers.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/asteroid-rl2-orbit-diagram-september-19-2025-1-1024x699.webp 1024w, https:\/\/watchers.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/asteroid-rl2-orbit-diagram-september-19-2025-1-300x205.webp 300w, https:\/\/watchers.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/asteroid-rl2-orbit-diagram-september-19-2025-1-768x524.webp 768w, https:\/\/watchers.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/asteroid-rl2-orbit-diagram-september-19-2025-1.webp 1056w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"699\" src=\"https:\/\/watchers.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/asteroid-rl2-orbit-diagram-september-19-2025-1-1024x699.webp\" alt=\"asteroid rl2 orbit diagram september 19 2025\" class=\"wp-image-233718\" srcset=\"https:\/\/watchers.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/asteroid-rl2-orbit-diagram-september-19-2025-1-1024x699.webp 1024w, https:\/\/watchers.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/asteroid-rl2-orbit-diagram-september-19-2025-1-300x205.webp 300w, https:\/\/watchers.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/asteroid-rl2-orbit-diagram-september-19-2025-1-768x524.webp 768w, https:\/\/watchers.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/asteroid-rl2-orbit-diagram-september-19-2025-1.webp 1056w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Asteroid RL2 orbit diagram. Adapted from ESA\/NEOCC. Credit: The Watchers<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>If an object of this size were to enter Earth\u2019s atmosphere, it could produce an airburst on the scale of the 2013 Chelyabinsk event. The Chelyabinsk meteor, estimated at 17\u201320 m (56\u201366 feet) in diameter, exploded with an energy of about 440\u2013500 kilotons of TNT, injuring more than 1 500 people and damaging over 7 000 buildings. <\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<div class=\"perfmatters-lazy-youtube\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/dpmXyJrs7iU\" data-id=\"dpmXyJrs7iU\" data-query=\"feature=oembed\" onclick=\"perfmattersLazyLoadYouTube(this);\">\n<div><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"YouTube video\" width=\"480\" height=\"360\" data-pin-nopin=\"true\" nopin=\"nopin\" class=\"perfmatters-lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/dpmXyJrs7iU\/hqdefault.jpg\"\/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/dpmXyJrs7iU\/hqdefault.jpg\" alt=\"YouTube video\" width=\"480\" height=\"360\" data-pin-nopin=\"true\" nopin=\"nopin\"\/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><noscript><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Meteor Hits Russia Feb 15, 2013 - Event Archive\" width=\"1110\" height=\"624\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/dpmXyJrs7iU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/noscript>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>With an estimated diameter between 17 and 37 m (56 and 121 feet), asteroid 2025 RL2 falls within the same size range and, if on the larger end, could release significantly greater energy depending on its exact size, composition, and entry angle.<\/p>\n<p>While its size places it in the same range as the Chelyabinsk object, asteroid 2025 RL2 poses no impact risk during this approach. The current solution carries a condition code of 7 of 9, indicating limited precision due to the short observational arc, but even with this uncertainty the trajectory does not intersect Earth.<\/p>\n<p>Higher condition codes are typical for newly discovered asteroids with only a short observation arc. As additional observations are made, the orbit of 2025 RL2 will be refined and the condition code is expected to decrease.<\/p>\n<p>References:<\/p>\n<p><sup>1<\/sup> Asteroid 2025 RL2 \u2013 Minor Planet Center \u2013 Accessed on September 16, 2025<\/p>\n<p><sup>2<\/sup> Asteroid 2025 RL2 \u2013 NASA\/CNEOS \u2013 Accessed on September 16, 2025<\/p>\n<p><!-- MOLONGUI AUTHORSHIP PLUGIN 5.1.0 --><br \/>\n<!-- https:\/\/www.molongui.com\/wordpress-plugin-post-authors --><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/watchers.news\/2025\/09\/16\/asteroid-2025-rl2-pass-earth-0-5-lunar-distances-september-19\/?rand=772151\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This is the 100th known asteroid to fly past Earth within 1 lunar distance (LD) since the start of the year and the 9th so far this month. Asteroid 2025&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":798243,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-798242","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-genaero"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/798242","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=798242"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/798242\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/798243"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=798242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=798242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=798242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}