On 19 October a very small asteroid, designated as 2018 UA, was discovered by the Catalina Sky Survey, and quickly flagged as a potential very close approacher. Immediate follow-up observations by both Catalina and the Spacewatch project led to a much more accurate orbit solution.

The month of December this year marks the fifth anniversary of the launch of ESA’s Gaia spacecraft. The mission, now operating continuously near the Earth-Sun L2 Lagrangian point, has already revolutionized many fields of astronomy, thanks to the broad and exquisite quality of the data it is producing.

For the first time since 2012 the year that just ended did not break all records of annual NEO discoveries. This was mostly due to unusually poor weather in Hawaii, where many current NEO discovery surveys are located.

This year on 8 February marks the 50th anniversary of the fall of the Allende meteorite, the largest carbonaceous chondrite ever found. The atmospheric entry and impact happened at night local time, and were therefore well observed over the entire Northern Mexico. About 2 tonnes of fragments were later collected on ground in a strewn field of about 50 km size.

On 1 February 2019 a bright daytime fireball was seen by multiple eyewitnesses around the area of Gulf of Mexico. It exploded over the western tip of Cuba, producing a significant shockwave felt by local residents, and the fall of a large number of stony meteorites, mostly near the village of Viflales.

The first edition of the Planetary Defense Conference (PDC) managed by the International Academy of Astronautics happened exactly 10 years ago,in the week of 27-30 April 2009 (before the IAA became involved, there were two other PDCs, both in the USA). The conference was held in Granada, Spain, and was the first of a biennial IAA series that is continuing this month, with the 6th conference being held in College Park, USA.

The number of known NEAs reached the round total of 20 000 at the end oflast month. This group of asteroids is steadily growing at a pace of roughly 160 new discoveries each month, thanks to the work done by the main asteroid surveys.

May will likely be the last month before summer with an average rate of NEO discoveries. Starting in June, most surveys in the South-West of the United States will likely temporarily decrease their productivity due to the summer monsoon season.