NASA Captures Best Images Of 'The Beast' Asteroid

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Wikipedia

2014 HQ₁₂₄ (also written 2014 HQ124) is a near-Earth asteroid roughly 370 meters (1,210 ft) in diameter that passed 3.25 lunar distances (LD) from Earth on 8 June 2014.^[6] It was discovered on 23 April 2014 by NEOWISE.^[1] It is estimated that an impact event would produce the equivalent of 2,000 megatons of TNT and create a 5 km (3 mi) impact crater.^[7]The news media misleadingly nicknamed it, The Beast.^[8] 2014 HQ₁₂₄ previously passed this close to Earth in 1952^[6] and will not again until at least 2307.^[9] Radar imaging suggests it may be a contact binary.^[3]

2014 close approach[edit]

On 6 June 2014, the asteroid brightened to about apparent magnitude 13.7 while in the southern constellation of Horologium.^[10] Near its closest approach to Earth of 3.25 Lunar distances on 8 June 2014, the asteroid crossed the celestial equator, making it a northern hemisphere object. It however had an elongation of about 20 degrees from the Sun,^[10]and was lost in astronomical twilight during the closest approach to Earth. The Goldstone Deep Space Network observed the asteroid later on 8 June 2014,^[5] when the asteroid was between 3.6 and 3.8 lunar distances.^[3]

On average, an object about the size of 2014 HQ₁₂₄ will pass this close to Earth every few years.^[11] Similar events, where other 100+ meter diameter asteroids have or will soon pass less than 4 LD from Earth, include:

• 4179 Toutatis (~3000 meters in diameter) passed 4.0 LD from Earth on 29 September 2004
• 2004 XP14 (~500 meters in diameter) passed 1.1 LD from Earth on 3 July 2006
• (308635) 2005 YU55 (~360 meters in diameter) passed 0.8 LD from Earth on 8 November 2011
• 2014 EG₄₅ (~140 meters in diameter) passed 3.2 LD from Earth on 4 March 2014^[12]
• (357439) 2004 BL86 (~600 meters in diameter) will pass 3.1 LD from Earth on 26 January 2015^[13]