2018 LA
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Asteroid 2018 LA |
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| Orbit and position 30 days before the collision | |
| Properties of the orbit ( animation ) | |
| Orbit type | Near-Earth asteroid, Apollo-type |
| Major semi-axis | 1.3764 ± 0.0017 AU |
| eccentricity | 0.4319 ± 0.0009 |
| Perihelion - aphelion | 0.7820 ± 0.0002 AU - 1.9709 ± 0.0025 AU |
| Inclination of the orbit plane | 4.2975 ± 0.0043 ° |
| Length of the ascending node | 71.8696 ° |
| Argument of the periapsis | 256.0474 ± 0.0258 ° |
| Time of passage of the perihelion | July 26, 2018 |
| Sidereal period | 589.8450 ± 1.101 d |
| Physical Properties | |
| Absolute brightness | 30.5 mag |
| history | |
| Date of discovery | 2nd June 2018 |
| Another name | ZLAF9B2 |
| Source: Unless otherwise stated, the data comes from JPL Small-Body Database Browser . The affiliation to an asteroid family is automatically determined from the AstDyS-2 database . Please also note the note on asteroid items. | |
2018 LA (temporary name ZLAF9B2 ) was a small asteroid from Apollo-type . It was around 2 to 3 meters in diameter and entered the Earth's atmosphere on June 2, 2018 at 16:44 UTC (18:44 local time) near the border between Botswana and South Africa . The asteroid was discovered just 8 hours earlier by an instrument from the Mount Lemmon Survey . From an observation period of 1.5 hours it was calculated that this object will hit the earth with a probability of 85%. With the discovery of LA in 2018, it was only possible for the third time to track down an asteroid on an orbit on which it actually collided with Earth. The American Meteor Society later received a report that an observer from Botswana had seen a bright ball of fire.
discovery
On June 2, 2018, around 8:22 UTC, the Mount Lemmon Survey discovered an asteroid with an apparent magnitude of 18 magnitudes, which was moving very quickly against the background stars. The object was first observed over a period of 15 minutes. This observation was reported to the Minor Planet Center and the object was tracked for an additional hour.
Meteorite find
According to calculations carried out by Peter Jenniskens , among others , after a search lasting several days, the first meteorite was found in the Kalahari in Botswana on June 23 .
