(89959) 2002 NT7

Discovery

It was discovered on 9 July 2002 by the Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research team (LINEAR) at the U.S. Lincoln Laboratory Experimental Test Site near Socorro, New Mexico. At the time of discovery it only had a 6-day observation arc of 9–14 July, which poorly constrained possible future positions of the asteroid.

Despite inflammatory press reports, the object had a "low probability" of impact, approximately one in a million, for 1 February 2019. On 22 July 2002, NEODyS posted a positive 0.18 Palermo scale rating. Further observations, especially from Erich Meyer, quickly lowered the probability. https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/astro-news-briefs-july-2228/. On 25 July 2002, the hazard rating on the Palermo scale was lowered to −0.25. However, the discovery of the object with an initial Palermo scale rating of 0.06 was a historical event for the NEO observation program.

was removed from the Sentry Risk Table on 1 August 2002 (23 days after discovery), meaning there is no risk of an impact by it in the next 100 years. On 13 January 2019, the asteroid safely passed 0.4078 AU from Earth with a 3-sigma uncertainty region of about ±108 km. Between 1900 and 2195 the closest approach to Earth will occur on 15 January 2099 at a distance of roughly 0.3739 AU with an uncertainty region of about ±430 km.

On 30 January 2020, the asteroid safely passed 0.02718 AU from 2 Pallas.

References

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References

1. [http://www.planetary.org/news/2002/0725_Asteroid_2002_NT7_Under_Watch_But.html Asteroid 2002 NT7 Under Watch, But Probably Not Coming Our Way] {{webarchive. link. (2006-04-05 (25 July 2002))