is a small

Aten asteroid The Aten asteroids are a dynamical group of asteroids whose orbits bring them into proximity with Earth. By definition, Atens are Earth-crossing asteroids . The group is named after 2062 Aten, the first of its kind, discovered on 7 Janua ...

that made one of the closest recorded asteroid close approaches of Earth on 27 January 2012. It passed within of Earth during its closest approach at 15:25 GMT. measures around across; if it had impacted in 2012, it would have been too small to pass through Earth's atmosphere intact. During its 2012 close approach to Earth, had a brightest

apparent magnitude Apparent magnitude () is a measure of the Irradiance, brightness of a star, astronomical object or other celestial objects like artificial satellites. Its value depends on its intrinsic luminosity, its distance, and any extinction (astronomy), ...

of about 13.9, making it about as bright as the

dwarf planet A dwarf planet is a small planetary-mass object that is in direct orbit around the Sun, massive enough to be hydrostatic equilibrium, gravitationally rounded, but insufficient to achieve clearing the neighbourhood, orbital dominance like the ...

Pluto Pluto (minor-planet designation: 134340 Pluto) is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, a ring of Trans-Neptunian object, bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune. It is the ninth-largest and tenth-most-massive known object to directly orbit the Su ...

. By 25 February 2012, it had dimmed to magnitude 30. During its close approach of on 28 January 2014, it will only reach a magnitude of about 23. has been observed in more detail using

radar astronomy Radar astronomy is a technique of observing nearby astronomical objects by reflecting radio waves or microwaves off target objects and analyzing their reflections. Radar astronomy differs from ''radio astronomy'' in that the latter is a passive ob ...

References

External links

"Zippy little asteroid 2012 BX34 makes a quick visit"
Astro Bob. 27 January 2012. Retrieved 11 July 2013.

(Ernesto Guido, Giovanni Sostero & Nick Howes). 27 January 2012. Retrieved 11 July 2013.
"Asteroid makes near-miss fly-by"
BBC. 27 January 2012. Retrieved 11 July 2013.

Space.com. 27 January 2012. Retrieved 11 July 2013. * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:2012 BX34 # Minor planet object articles (unnumbered) 20120127 20120125

See also

References

External links