Source: Sci News

2020 SW was discovered on September 18, 2020, by astronomers using the NASA-funded Catalina Sky Survey in Arizona.

Follow-up observations confirmed its orbital trajectory to a high precision, ruling out any chance of impact.

A team of astronomers from the Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory immediately determined that 2020 SW will make its closest approach on September 24, 2020 over the southeastern Pacific Ocean.

Based on its brightness, the asteroid was estimated to be between 5 and 10 m (15-30 feet) in diameter.

Although it’s not on an impact trajectory with Earth, if it were, the space rock would almost certainly break up high in the Earth’s atmosphere, becoming a bright meteor known as a fireball.

“There are a large number of tiny asteroids like this one, and several of them approach our planet as close as this several times every year,” said CNEOS director Dr. Paul Chodas.

“In fact, asteroids of this size impact our atmosphere at an average rate of about once every year or two.”

After today’s close approach, 2020 SW will continue its journey around the Sun.

The asteroid will not return to the Earth-Moon system until 2041, when it will make a much more distant flyby.

“The detection capabilities of NASA’s asteroid surveys are continually improving,” Dr. Chodas said.

“We should now expect to find asteroids of this size a couple days before they come near our planet.”

Source: Sci News