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Update On Asteroid 1999 AN10

<b>January 26, 1955</b><br>Prediscovery image of asteroid 1999 AN10 taken from the Palomar Digital
Sky Survey.  The faint streak is the trail left by the asteroid.  The
image has been contrast-enhanced.
January 26, 1955
Prediscovery image of asteroid 1999 AN10 taken from the Palomar Digital Sky Survey. The faint streak is the trail left by the asteroid. The image has been contrast-enhanced.

As announced in MPEC 1999-N21, a trail of asteroid 1999 AN10 was discovered on plates taken in 1955 from the Palomar Sky Survey. The nominal and minimum-possible close-approach distance for the 2027 Earth encounter are now 0.00260 AU and 0.00258 AU respectively (about 389,000 km). Preliminary analyses indicate that the 2044 and 2046 impacting key-holes are well outside the current 2027 impact-plane error ellipse. This implies that those previously highly unlikely impacts are now virtually impossible. The next Earth close-approach is in 2076 and will likely be between 0.046 and 0.009 AU (6,900,000 and 1,300,000 km).