More than one asteroid per year may be listed if its geocentric distance is within a tenth of the lunar distance, or 0.10 LD. (See also near-Earth asteroids and NEO Earth Close Approaches.)įrom the list in the first section, these are the closest-known asteroids per year that approach Earth within one lunar distance. Below are lists of close approaches less than one LD for a given year. The average distance to the Moon (or lunar distance (LD)) is about 384,400 km (238,900 mi), which is around 30 times the diameter of the Earth. Timeline of approaches within one lunar distance See also lists dedicated to specific years such as List of asteroid close approaches to Earth in 2023. Scientists estimate that several dozen asteroids in the 6–12 m (20–39 ft) size range fly by Earth at a distance closer than the moon every year, but only a fraction of these are actually detected. The small near-Earth asteroids 2008 TC 3, 2014 AA, 2018 LA, 2019 MO and 2022 EB 5 are the only five asteroids discovered before impacting into Earth (see asteroid impact prediction). As sky surveys improve, smaller and smaller asteroids are regularly being discovered. Near-Earth object detection technology began to improve around 1998, so objects being detected as of 2004 could have been missed only a decade earlier due to a lack of dedicated near-Earth astronomical surveys. Some are regarded as potentially hazardous objects if they are estimated to be large enough to cause regional devastation. This is a list of examples where an asteroid or meteoroid travels close to the Earth.

Goldstone radar images of asteroid 2007 PA 8's Earth flyby in 2012

Nasa asteroid watch list