2020 LD is an Apollo near-Earth asteroid roughly in diameter. It was discovered on 7 June 2020 when the asteroid was about from Earth and had a solar elongation of 154 degrees. The glare of the Sun had masked the approach of the asteroid since November 2019. The asteroid passed closest approach to Earth on 5 June 2020 at a distance of . The close approach distance is now known with an accuracy of roughly ± 50 km. This is the largest asteroid to pass closer than the Moon in 2020 and possibly the largest since in November 2011. The asteroid makes close approaches to Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars. It will be brighter than apparent magnitude 24 until 18 July 2020.
When it had a short 6 day observation arc, it was possible that the asteroid could have passed from Earth in June 1918 or would have passed from Venus in April 2024.
With a 11-day observation arc, the Sentry Risk Table listed a 1 in 9 million chance of impact on 7 June 2109, prior to the asteroid's removal from the list on 21 May 2021.
is another similarly sized asteroid whose close approach was not masked by the Sun in 2020.
Recent 100m asteroids passing within lunar distance Very few asteroids have known sizes or shapes. The albedo (how reflective the surface is) of these asteroids is often unknown and therefore only generic assumptions can be made about their sizes. A smaller more reflective asteroid can have the same absolute magnitude (H) of a larger less reflective asteroid.
+Asteroids in the size range of "2020 LD" (H<24)that passed inside 1 lunar distance from Dec 2011 – June 2020 Asteroid Date Earthdistance H JPL CNEOSgeneric diameter(meters) 2020 LD 2020-06-05 22.4 89 – 200 2019 OK 2019-07-25 23.3 58 – 130 2019 OD 2019-07-24 23.4 56 – 120 2018-05-15 23.6 51 – 110 2018-04-15 23.8 46 – 100 2018 AH 2018-01-02 22.5 84 – 190 2011-12-03 23.2 61 – 140
See also 2019 OK 2018 AH
Notes
References
External links Biggest asteroid to pass close (and undetected) this year