Near-Earth Asteroid 2024 RN3 close encounter: an image – 9 Sept. 2024

2024 RN3 is a small, Apollo near-Earth asteroid about 220–490 m in diameter. It was discovered by the Catalina Sky Survey on 12 September 2024 and will make a close approach to Earth on 9 September 2024. The asteroid is expected to pass about 0.00070 AU (105,000 km; 65,000 mi) from Earth, which is about one-fourth the distance to the Moon. This will be the closest approach by a known asteroid of this size in over a century.

2024 RN3 is a stony asteroid that is part of the Apollo group of asteroids. Apollo asteroids are asteroids that cross Earth's orbit. They are named after the asteroid Apollo, which was discovered in 1932 and was the first asteroid to be discovered to cross Earth's orbit. 2024 RN3 is a member of the Alinda subgroup of Apollo asteroids. Alinda asteroids are Apollo asteroids that have a semi-major axis of less than 2.5 AU and an orbital eccentricity of greater than 0.3. 2024 RN3 has a semi-major axis of 1.9 AU and an orbital eccentricity of 0.51.

2024 RN3 was discovered by the Catalina Sky Survey on 12 September 2024. The Catalina Sky Survey is a project that uses a telescope to search for near-Earth objects. The survey is funded by NASA and is operated by the University of Arizona. The Catalina Sky Survey has discovered over 1,000 near-Earth objects, including 2024 RN3.

2024 RN3 will make a close approach to Earth on 9 September 2024. The asteroid is expected to pass about 0.00070 AU (105,000 km; 65,000 mi) from Earth, which is about one-fourth the distance to the Moon. This will be the closest approach by a known asteroid of this size in over a century.