Stegosaurus-sized asteroid 2010 VQ
4.6 LD · ~9 m
Drawn to scale.
Silhouette: Olivia Binfield, PhyloPic (CC0)
2010 VQ passes about 4.6× the distance to the Moon from Earth (1,752,264 km). It is 5–17 m across (estimated). If a rock this size hit Earth, it would burn up as a bright fireball high in the atmosphere; at most, small meteorites reach the ground. Astronomers spot one this size passing within 5× the Moon's distance about 330 times a year, and many more pass unseen. It misses Earth on this pass. NASA's Sentry impact monitoring gives it about a 1 in 630 chance of hitting Earth on a later pass between 2087 and 2124; odds like these usually drop to zero as more observations come in.
For the background, read Impact risk in Asteroids.
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