Determining the nature of the closest ever Near Earth Object

Simulation of asteroid 2012 DA14 according to the dimensions determined in the study during its approximation to the Earth on 15 February 2013. Credits: Multimedia Service (IAC)
Simulation of asteroid 2012 DA14 according to the dimensions determined in the study during its approximation to the Earth on 15 February 2013. Credits: Multimedia Service (IAC)
Advertised on

On 15 February the asteroid 2012 DA14 came within 27,700 kilometres of the Earth, making it our closest ever encounter of a Near Earth Object (NEO). The study, carried out by planetary scientists, has determined the shape, size and primordial chemical composition of the asteroid. These results will help develop strategies against potentially dangerous asteroids in terms of diverting or destroying them, or mitigating the effects of their impact.

Asteroide 2012 DA14 simulation:

News type
Press release

It may interest you

  • TOI-2768 b is a Neptune-like exoplanet that orbits a K-type star. Its mass is 7.41 Earths, it takes 1.5 days to complete one orbit of its star, and is 0.027 AU from its star. Its discovery was announced in 2024.
    Press release
    Several Neptune-like planets discovered in a theoretically barren region
    The distribution of planets in the over five thousand distant solar systems discovered to date forms a complex puzzle. There is a region in the planetary orbit graph, known as the " Neptunian desert", where very few Neptune-like planets with orbits of between two and four days period around their star have been recorded to date. Now, a scientific team led by the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) and the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía-Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (IAA-CSIC) , using a novel technique, new planets around red dwarf stars located precisely in
    Advertised on
  • Asteroid near Mars
    Press release
    Astronomers confirm a new “Trojan” asteroid that shares an orbit with Mars
    Using observations made with the Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC) a study led from the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) and the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM) has confirmed that the asteroid 2023 FW14, discovered last year, is accompanying the red planet in its journey around the Sun, ahead of Mars and in the same orbit. With this new member, the group of Trojans which accompany Mars has increased in number to 17. But it shows differences in its orbit and chemical composition which may indicate that it is a captured asteroid, of a primitive type. The results are published in
    Advertised on
  • Reinstalation of Commissioning Camera (ComCan) de LSST en Agosto de 2024 / Hernan Stockebrand
    Press release
    La Palma welcomes the Conference LSST@Europe 6, a front-line initiative in the exploration of the Universe
    During the week from 16th to 20th September the International Conference LSST@Europe 6 will be held in La Palma a meeting which will bring together some 140 researchers in astrophysics from more than 20 countries. At the meeting the latest advances in the LSST project, a front-lione initiative in the exploration of the Universe which will be carried out at the Vera Rubin Observatory in Chile and which has close collaboration from the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC). The project consists in carrying out a new and detailed census of the sky, called the Legacy Survey of Space and
    Advertised on