2010 AL30
Near-Earth asteroid
title: "2010 AL30" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["apollo-asteroids", "minor-planet-object-articles-(unnumbered)", "radar-imaged-asteroids", "fast-rotating-minor-planets", "near-earth-objects-in-2010", "astronomical-objects-discovered-in-2010"] description: "Near-Earth asteroid" topic_path: "general/apollo-asteroids" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_AL30" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Near-Earth asteroid ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox planet"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| minorplanet | yes |
| background | #FFC2E0 |
| name | |
| image | 2010al30-18frame-Goldstone.png |
| caption | Goldstone radar collage of asteroid |
| discovered | January 10, 2010 |
| alt_names | none |
| mp_category | Apollo NEO |
| epoch | 21 November 2025 (JD 2461000.5) |
| semimajor | 1.0458 AU |
| perihelion | 0.72418 AU |
| aphelion | 1.3675 AU |
| eccentricity | 0.30755 |
| period | 1.07 yr (390.65 d) |
| inclination | 3.8313° |
| asc_node | 112.338° |
| arg_peri | 97.822° |
| mean_anomaly | 232.456° |
| avg_speed | 28.5 |
| dimensions | ~30 meters (elongated) |
| rotation | 0.14660 h |
| spectral_type | ? |
| abs_magnitude | 27.2 |
| mean_motion | /day |
| orbit_ref | |
| uncertainty | 3 |
| moid | 0.000943817 AU |
| jupiter_moid | 3.59553 AU |
| :: |
| minorplanet=yes | background=#FFC2E0 | name= | image= 2010al30-18frame-Goldstone.png | image_scale = | caption=Goldstone radar collage of asteroid | discoverer= | discovered=January 10, 2010 | alt_names=none | mp_category=Apollo NEO | epoch=21 November 2025 (JD 2461000.5) | semimajor=1.0458 AU | perihelion=0.72418 AU | aphelion=1.3675 AU | eccentricity=0.30755 | period=1.07 yr (390.65 d) | inclination=3.8313° | asc_node=112.338° | arg_peri=97.822° | mean_anomaly=232.456° | avg_speed=28.5 | dimensions=~30 meters (elongated) | mass= | rotation=0.14660 h | spectral_type=? | abs_magnitude=27.2 | albedo= | single_temperature= | mean_motion= /day | orbit_ref= | uncertainty=3 | moid=0.000943817 AU | jupiter_moid=3.59553 AU
**** is a near-Earth asteroid that was discovered on 10 January 2010 at Grove Creek Observatory, Australia.
Italian scientists Ernesto Guido and Giovanni Sostero told RIA Novosti that it had an orbital period of almost exactly one year and might be a spent rocket booster. However, it was determined that it is a near-Earth asteroid. On January 13, 2010 at 1246 UT it passed Earth at 0.0008624 AU, about 1/3 of the distance from the Earth to the Moon (or 0.33 LD).
Based an estimated diameter of 10 -, if had entered the Earth's atmosphere, it would have created a meteor air burst equivalent to between 50 kT and 100 kT (kilotons of TNT). The Nagasaki "Fat Man" atom bomb had a yield between 13–18 kT.
It has an uncertainty parameter of 3 and has been observed by radar. Radar observations show the asteroid is elongated and is about 30 meters in diameter. It may be a contact binary.
References
|date=2011-10-04 |title=First Results of the Goldstone High-Resolution Chirp Radar Imaging System: Application to Near-Earth Asteroid 2010 AL30 |publisher=NASA/JPL Asteroid Radar Research |url=http://echo.jpl.nasa.gov/asteroids/2010AL30/2010al30.html |accessdate=2012-03-21}}
References
- "JPL Small-Body Database Browser".
- (12 January 2010). "Weird Object Zooming by Earth Wednesday is Likely an Asteroid". Space.com.
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20110811025353/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2010-01-14/us/28126845_1_object-orbit-amateur-telescope What was that Mystery object whizzes past Earth], The Times of India, January 14, 2010
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20100116114050/http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news167.html Small Asteroid 2010 AL30 Will Fly Past The Earth]. [[NASA]]/[[JPL]] Near-Earth Object Program, January 12, 2010.
- [http://epod.usra.edu/blog/2010/03/nearearth-object-2010-al30.html Near-Earth Object 2010 AL30]. [[NASA]] Earth Science Picture of the Day March 06, 2010.
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