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20461 Dioretsa

Centaur and damocloid

Field	Value
minorplanet	yes
name	20461 Dioretsa
symbol	[[File:Dioretsa symbol (bold).svg	24px]] (astrological)
background	#C7FF8F
discovery_ref
discoverer	LINEAR
discovery_site	Lincoln Lab ETS
discovered	8 June 1999
mpc_name	(20461) Dioretsa
alt_names
pronounced
named_after	Asteroid
(spelled backwards)
mp_category	centaurdamocloid
unusualdistant
orbit_ref
epoch	27 April 2019 (JD 2458600.5)
uncertainty	2
observation_arc	2.54 yr (927 d)
aphelion	45.404 AU
perihelion	2.4021 AU
semimajor	23.903 AU
eccentricity	0.8995
period	116.87 yr (42,686 d)
mean_anomaly	59.873°
mean_motion	/ day
inclination	160.43°
asc_node	297.77°
arg_peri	103.13°
jupiter_moid	0.1907 AU
tisserand	-1.5470
mean_diameter
albedo
abs_magnitude	13.8

(spelled backwards) unusualdistant

20461 Dioretsa is a centaur and damocloid on a retrograde, cometary-like orbit from the outer Solar System. It was discovered on 8 June 1999, by members of the LINEAR team at the Lincoln Laboratory Experimental Test Site near Socorro, New Mexico, United States. The highly eccentric unusual object measures approximately 14 km in diameter. It was named dioretsa, an anadrome of "asteroid".

Classification and orbit

Dioretsa is a member of the damocloids, with a retrograde orbit and a negative TJupiter of −1.547. It is also a centaur, as its orbit has a semi-major axis in between that of Jupiter (5.5 AU) Neptune (30.1 AU). The Minor Planet Center lists it as a critical object and (other) unusual minor planet due to an orbital eccentricity of more than 0.5.

It orbits the Sun at a distance of 2.4–45.4 AU once every 116 years and 10 months (42,686 days; semi-major axis of 23.9 AU). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.90 and an inclination of 160° with respect to the ecliptic. Its observation arc begins 12 months prior to its official discovery observation, with a precovery image taken by Spacewatch at Steward Observatory in June 1998. , it was last observed in 2000 and its orbit still has an uncertainty of 2.

Retrograde orbit

Dioretsa is the first distant object with a retrograde orbit to be discovered, with . An inclination of greater than 90° means that a body moves in a retrograde orbit. Dioretsa's orbit is otherwise similar to that of a comet. This has led to speculation that Dioretsa was originally an object from the Oort cloud.

Naming

The minor planet's name "Dioretsa" is the word "asteroid" spelled backwards (an anadrome), and is the first numbered of currently 136 known (see Data Base Search of the Minor Planet Center) minor planets with a retrograde motion in the Solar System. The approved naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 1 May 2003 (M.P.C. 48396).

Physical characteristics

According to observations made with the 10-meter Keck Telescope, Dioretsa measures 14 kilometers in diameter and its surface has a low albedo of 0.03. It has an absolute magnitude of 13.8. As of 2018, Dioretsa's spectral type as well as its rotation period and shape remain unknown.

References

(2017-07-11). "Dynamical lifetimes of asteroids in retrograde orbits". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

centaurs-(small-solar-system-bodies) damocloids unusual-minor-planets discoveries-by-linear named-minor-planets astronomical-objects-discovered-in-1999 minor-planets-with-a-retrograde-orbit

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