(89959) 2002 NT7
| Discovery | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | LINEAR |
| Discovery site | Lincoln Lab's ETS |
| Discovery date | 9 July 2002 |
| Designations | |
| MPC designation | (89959) 2002 NT7 |
| 2002 NT7 | |
| Apollo · NEO · PHA | |
| Orbital characteristics | |
| Epoch 16 February 2017 (JD 2457800.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 0 | |
| Observation arc | 62.68 yr (22,894 days) |
| Aphelion | 2.6529 AU |
| Perihelion | 0.8180 AU |
| 1.7355 AU | |
| Eccentricity | 0.5286 |
| 2.29 yr (835 days) | |
| 79.375° | |
| 0° 25m 51.96s / day | |
| Inclination | 42.333° |
| 132.08° | |
| 300.67° | |
| Earth MOID | 0.0004 AU |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Dimensions | 1.407±0.085 km |
| 0.224±0.053 | |
| 16.4 | |
(89959) 2002 NT7 (also written (89959) 2002 NT7) is a near-Earth object (NEO) with a diameter of 1.2 miles (2 kilometers) that became the first object observed by NASA's NEO program to be assigned a positive rating on the Palermo Technical Impact Hazard Scale, for a potential impact on February 1, 2019. 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 in Socorro, New Mexico.
Despite inflammatory press reports, the object had a "low probability" of impact, approximately one in a million. Further observations of the object quickly re-rated the threat lower. As of July 25, 2002, the hazard rating on the Palermo scale had been lowered to -0.25. However, the discovery of an object with an initial Palermo hazard rating of 0.06 was a historical event for the NEO observation program.
2002 NT7 was removed from the Sentry Risk Table on August 1, 2002. It is now known that on January 13, 2019 the asteroid will safely pass 0.4078 AU (61,010,000 km; 37,910,000 mi) from the Earth.
On January 30, 2020 the asteroid will pass 0.02718 AU (4,066,000 km; 2,527,000 mi) from 2 Pallas.
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