Asteroid (2024 ON) to make close, safe pass by Earth on Sept. 17
On Tuesday, September 17, at a distance that is small by cosmic standards, an object that may be up to half a kilometre in diameter will pass by Earth. Astronomers have named it (2024 ON).
The asteroid will be closest to Earth precisely on September 17 at 6:19 AM Eastern Time. Its speed relative to our planet is 8.9 km/s or about 32,000 km/h.
Close encounter with asteroid (2024 ON)
The asteroid will pass us at a distance of 0.00668 astronomical units, or about 1 million kilometres. This is two and a half times the distance between the Earth and the Moon. Therefore, this celestial body poses no threat to us.
Impressive size of the object
The diameter of the asteroid is estimated to be between 210 to 470 metres. Every day, asteroids of various sizes pass Earth, some even several times a day. However, these are mostly much smaller objects, with diameters of a few, several, or a few dozen metres. In the case of an asteroid (2024 ON), we are dealing with an object that may be up to half a kilometre in diameter.
According to information from the Center for Near Earth Object Studies (CNEOS), no other known equally large object will come close to us in the coming year. On October 12, the asteroid 363027 (1998 ST27), with a diameter of half a kilometre, will pass by us, but at a distance of 3.5 million kilometres.
Future approaches of asteroid (2024 ON)
Calculations indicate that the next close encounters with the asteroid (2024 ON) will occur in the years 2035, 2052, 2063, 2072, 2109, 2111, and 2120. However, these distances will be greater than this year's. The asteroid orbits the Sun every 3.7 years and is classified as a Near-Earth Object (NEO) and a potentially hazardous asteroid (PHA). It belongs to the Apollo group of asteroids, which intersect the orbits of Earth, Venus, and even Mercury.
