Asteroid 2023 DZ2 is headed towards a close approach to Earth on the afternoon of the 25th of March 2023 at 1451 CDT (1951 UTC). It will pass by at an estimated distance of 108,000 miles or just under half a lunar distance. It is estimated to be about 70 meters in diameter. A light curve shows a 6-minute rotation and about a half a magnitude range in brightness leading to the conclusion that the asteroid is not spherical.
This is an animation of 2023 DZ2 as it approaches the Earth. Taken on the morning of the 23rd of March, it is a set of twenty 300 second exposures.
2023 DZ2’s orbit.
(Graphic courtesy of the JPL Small-Body Database Browser)
2023 DZ2 is classified as an Apollo class asteroid. These asteroids orbits have an semi-major axis greater than that of the Earth but their perihelion is less than the Earth’s aphelion. Simply stated, these asteroid’s orbits take them closer to the Sun than the Earth and further from the Sun than the Earth. This means the asteroid’s orbit crosses the Earth’s orbit.