| Discovery[1] | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | Zwicky Transient Facility |
| Discovery site | Palomar Mountain (I43) |
| Discovery date | 3 November 2018 |
| Designations | |
| 2018 VP1 | |
| Orbital characteristics[2] | |
| Epoch 2020-May-31 (JD 2459000.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 7 | |
| Observation arc | 12.9 days[3] |
| Aphelion | 2.2703 AU (339,630,000 km) (Q) |
| Perihelion | 0.90513 AU (135,406,000 km) (q) |
| 1.5877 AU (237,520,000 km) (a) | |
| Eccentricity | 0.42992 (e) |
| 2.00 yr | |
| 300.72° (M) | |
| Inclination | 3.2419° (i) |
| 39.816° (Ω) | |
| 315.12° (ω) | |
| Earth MOID | 8300 km |
| Jupiter MOID | 3.1 AU (460,000,000 km) |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Dimensions | ~2 meters (7 feet)[3] 2–4 meters (CNEOS) |
| 30.9[2] | |
2018 VP1 is an Apollo near-Earth asteroid roughly 2 meters (7 feet) in diameter. The asteroid had a 0.41% chance (1 in 240) of impacting Earth on 2 November 2020 01:12 UT.[3] It was discovered on 3 November 2018 when it was about 0.003 AU (450,000 km; 280,000 mi) from Earth and had a solar elongation of 165 degrees. The asteroid has a short 12.9 day observation arc. It was last observed on 16 November 2018 by the European Southern Observatory Very Large Telescope at apparent magnitude 26 pushing the telescope close to the limiting magnitude.
The JPL Horizons 2 November 2020 nominal Earth approach was estimated as roughly 0.0028 AU (420,000 km; 260,000 mi).[2] The line of variations (LOV, uncertainty region[4]) allowed the asteroid to impact Earth[a] or pass as far away as 0.025 AU (3,700,000 km; 2,300,000 mi).[2] Its diameter of 2–4 meters makes it approximately 100–1000 times less massive than the 20-meter Chelyabinsk meteor.[b] An Earth-impact by this asteroid, assuming it is a common primitive chondrite, might rattle some windows after an airburst and/or drop pebble-sized meteorites on roof tops after dark flight.[5]
Preliminarily results are that nothing was detected via infrasound or atmospheric flash monitors.[6] The asteroid was not visually recovered.
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