Duende (2012 DA14)
Key facts
- What it is
- Small near-Earth asteroid (now in the Aten group)
- Size
- About 30–40 m across
- Discovered
- 2012, at La Sagra Observatory, Spain
- Spacecraft
- Not yet visited
- Orbit group
- Aten
- Average distance from the Sun
- 0.91 au (about 140 million km)
- Time to go round the Sun
- 317 days
- Closest and farthest from the Sun
- 0.83 to 0.99 au
- Tilt of its orbit
- 11.6°
- Closest its orbit comes to Earth's
- 71,000 km (0.2 times the Moon's distance)
- Spins once every
- 8.7 hours
An au (astronomical unit) is Earth's average distance from the Sun, about 150 million km. Orbit figures are from open tracking data, figures last updated 1 Nov 2026.
Duende, first known as 2012 DA14, is a small asteroid that passed exceptionally close to Earth on 15 February 2013. It came within about 27,700 kilometres of the surface, inside the ring of geostationary satellites. Because its orbit had been calculated precisely a year earlier, astronomers knew well in advance that it would miss, and the pass was watched around the world.
It was discovered on 23 February 2012 by astronomers at the La Sagra Observatory in southern Spain. Radar images made during the 2013 pass showed an elongated body about 20 metres wide and 40 metres long.
By remarkable coincidence, on the morning of the same day a different, smaller asteroid struck the atmosphere over Chelyabinsk in Russia, exploding in a bright fireball whose shock wave broke windows across the city. The two events were unrelated. The Chelyabinsk object came from a completely different direction, and Duende passed by about 16 hours later on a completely different path. The coincidence was a vivid reminder of why finding small asteroids matters.
Passing so close to Earth changed Duende's orbit. Before 2013, it took slightly longer than a year to go around the Sun. Earth's gravity bent its path enough that its year shortened to about 317 days, moving it from the Apollo group into the Aten group. Its future approaches are at safe distances.
Duende is the Spanish name for a spirit from folklore, a nod to the observatory where it was found. Its pass proved that small asteroids can be found, predicted and studied before they come close.
Coming close to Earth
Its next passes within about 30 million km of Earth, worked out from its orbit. Each one is a safe miss.
| Date | Distance | In Moon distances |
|---|---|---|
| 22 Feb 2033 | 20,000,000 km | 53 |
| 14 Aug 2039 | 27,000,000 km | 70 |
| 15 Feb 2046 | 2,200,000 km | 5.8 |
| 19 Feb 2053 | 12,000,000 km | 32 |
| 29 Aug 2066 | 27,000,000 km | 70 |
| 2 Aug 2073 | 27,000,000 km | 70 |