Below is the list of asteroids that have come close to Earth in 2022.
A list of known near-Earth asteroid close approaches less than 1 lunar distance () from Earth in 2022, based on the close approach database of the Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS). During 2022 143 asteroids passed within 1 LD of Earth. As most asteroids passing within a lunar distance are less than 40 meters in diameter, they generally are not detected until they are within several million km of Earth.
For reference, the radius of Earth is about or 0.0166 lunar distances. Geosynchronous satellites have an orbit with semi-major axis length of or 0.110 lunar distances.
The first asteroid flyby within 1 LD of Earth in 2022 was asteroid 2021 YK (10âÂÂ20 meters in diameter), which was observed on 27 December 2021 04:40 UT (when it was about 3.8 million km from Earth) and passed from Earth on 2 January 2022. The largest asteroid to pass within 1 LD of Earth in 2022 was with an estimated diameter between 24 and 53 meters for an absolute magnitude of 25.2. The fastest asteroid to pass within 1 LD of Earth in 2022 was that passed Earth with a velocity with respect to Earth of .
The CNEOS database of close approaches lists some close approaches a full orbit or more before the discovery of the object, derived by orbit calculation. The list below only includes close approaches that are evidenced by observations, thus the pre-discovery close approaches would only be included if the object was found by precovery, but there was no such close approach in 2022.
This list and relevant databases do not consider impacts as close approaches, thus this list does not include and , two asteroids which were predicted to impact on Earth and burned up in its atmosphere, as well as several more objects that collided with Earth's atmosphere in 2023 which weren't discovered in advance, but were observed visually or recorded by infrasound sensors designed to detect detonation of nuclear devices.
This sub-section visualises the warning times of the close approaches listed in the above table, depending on the size of the asteroid. It shows the effectiveness of asteroid warning systems at detecting close approaches. The sizes of the charts show the relative sizes of the asteroids to scale. For comparison, the approximate size of a person is also shown. This is based the absolute magnitude of each asteroid, an approximate measure of size based on brightness.
Absolute magnitude H âÂÂ¥ 30 (smallest) (size of a person for comparison)
Absolute magnitude 30 > H âÂÂ¥ 29
Absolute magnitude 29 > H âÂÂ¥ 28
Absolute magnitude 28 > H âÂÂ¥ 27
Absolute magnitude 27 > H âÂÂ¥ 26 (probable size of the Chelyabinsk meteor)
Absolute magnitude 26 > H âÂÂ¥ 25
Absolute magnitude less than 25 > H (largest)
None
Below is the list of predicted close approaches of near-Earth asteroids larger than magnitude 27, that were predicted at the start of the year to occur in 2022. This relates to the effectiveness of asteroid cataloging systems at predicting close approaches. A predicted close approach distance of within ñ50% is considered to be a successful prediction.
For asteroids which were observed but not predicted, see the main list above.
Below is an example list of near-Earth asteroids that passed or nominally will pass more than 1 lunar distance (384,400 km or 0.00256 AU) from Earth in 2022. During 2021 over 1000 asteroids passed within of Earth.