page_title: 2018 LA
hierarchical_section_title: 2018 LA
caption_attribution_description: English: Orbital diagram of 2018 LA
context_page_description: 2018 LA, also known as ZLAF9B2, was a small Apollo near-Earth asteroid 2.6–3.8 m in mean diameter that impacted the atmosphere with small fragments reaching the Earth at roughly 16:44 UTC on 2 June 2018 near the border of Botswana and South Africa. It had been discovered only 8 hours earlier by the Mount Lemmon Survey, Arizona and based on ​1 ¹⁄₂ hours of observations, was calculated to have a roughly 85% chance of impact likely somewhere between Australia and Madagascar. Hours later, a report arrived to the American Meteor Society that an observer from Botswana had seen a bright fireball. After the impact, the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System released observations roughly 2 hours after the other reported observations which confirmed that the asteroid had indeed impacted Earth on a grazing path as per the observed fireball. A preliminary analysis of the pre-impact evolution of this meteoroid suggests that it may be part of a dynamical grouping.
context_section_description: 2018 LA, also known as ZLAF9B2, was a small Apollo near-Earth asteroid 2.6–3.8 m (9–12 ft) in mean diameter that impacted the atmosphere with small fragments reaching the Earth at roughly 16:44 UTC (18:44 local time) on 2 June 2018 near the border of Botswana and South Africa. It had been discovered only 8 hours earlier by the Mount Lemmon Survey, Arizona and based on ​1 ¹⁄₂ hours of observations, was calculated to have a roughly 85% chance of impact likely somewhere between Australia and Madagascar. Hours later, a report arrived to the American Meteor Society that an observer from Botswana had seen a bright fireball. After the impact, the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) released observations roughly 2 hours after the other reported observations which confirmed that the asteroid had indeed impacted Earth on a grazing path as per the observed fireball. A preliminary analysis of the pre-impact evolution of this meteoroid suggests that it may be part of a dynamical grouping.
caption: Orbit and positions of 2018 LA, 30 days before collision
exif: {}