Asteroid Discovered Inside of Earth’s Orbit

Asteroid discovered inside of Earth’s orbit

Washington Post

Sunday, May 30, 2004

Astronomers at Lowell Observatory have discovered an asteroid inside Earth’s orbit that rockets around the sun once every 184 days — the quickest trip of any known object in the solar system.

Lowell research assistant Brian Skiff in Flagstaff, Ariz., observed the object known as 2004 JG6 on May 10, in the early evening during a brief window of time when objects close to the sun are visible. Skiff said the asteroid will also be relatively easy to see just after sunrise in autumn.

Skiff discovered the asteroid in conjunction with the Lowell Observatory Near-Earth Object Search, part of a nationwide search to find all the asteroids and comets that could possibly collide with Earth.

Skiff said 2004 JG6 has an elliptical orbit and scoots past the sun at a distance of 27 million miles — inside Mercury’s orbit — at its closest point. It then arches out beyond Venus until it is 90 million miles away, only 3 million miles inside Earth’s orbit.

“It’s no danger to us, at least not for the next 10,000 years,” Skiff said.

Based on its distance from Earth and the amount of light it reflects, the asteroid is between three-tenths and sixth-tenths of a mile in diameter, Skiff estimated.