2008 CK70

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2008 CK70 is a small Apollo-class near-Earth asteroid, about 31 meters across. It was discovered on February 9, 2008 by the LINEAR survey using a 1-meter telescope, at a brightening magnitude of about 19. Ten precovery images from January 2008 were later found, extending its observational history.

The asteroid orbits the Sun every about 1.16 years. Its path is highly elongated, bringing it from about 0.59 astronomical units (AU) to about 1.62 AU from the Sun. It is inclined roughly 6 degrees to the plane of the Solar System. Its orbit brings it close to Earth’s orbit, with an Earth Minimum Orbit Distance (MOID) of about 0.00011 AU, or roughly 16,500 kilometers.

2008 CK70 is too small to be considered a potentially hazardous object. In 2013 it briefly ranked seventh on the Palermo Technical Impact Hazard Scale, but it was removed from the Sentry Risk Table later that year as more observations clarified its trajectory. The current data cover about 35 days and the orbit still has some uncertainty.

Looking to the future, early estimates based on limited data suggested a small chance of Earth impact in 2030, but with more observations the risk is considered negligible. On the nominal orbit, it would pass about 0.08 AU from Earth on February 14, 2030. In 2031 it could pass as close as about 0.0088 AU to Venus. The asteroid’s path can shift a bit over time due to gravitational influences from Earth and Venus.