Small Asteroid Just Buzzed Earth

By Nancy Atkinson - February 04, 2011 12:22 PM UTC | Planetary Science

If you felt a sudden breeze at about 19:40 GMT (2:40 pm EST), it was probably from a small asteroid that came extremely close to the Earth today (Feb. 4, 2011). The object, officially designated

2011 CQ1

, is fairly small -- about 2-3 meters (6.5 -10 ft) wide -- and at closest approach it came within 11,855 km (7,366 miles) or about 0.03 lunar distances (LD), or 0.00008 astronomical units (AU). Yep, that's pretty close.

Richard Kowalski with the

Catalina Sky Survey

discovered this object early today. The image above is from Giovanni Sostero & Ernesto Guido who made remote follow-up observations to confirm with the Tzec Maun Observatory in New Mexico.

There was no chance this object was going to hit Earth, but it did come well within what is known as the

Clarke Belt

among geosynchronous satellites.

Find out more about the path this object is taking at

Remanzacco Observatory in Italy

.

Info on the Minor Planet Center website about 2011 CQ1.

Astronomer Bill Gray calculated a transit line plot showing the path over South America. You can see the charts here:

http://www.projectpluto.com/cq1.png

http://www.projectpluto.com/cq1a.png

And if you are an astrophotographer,

let us know

if you capture any images of 2011 CQ1.

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com