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(276033) 2002 AJ129

Mercury-crossing asteroid

Field	Value
minorplanet	yes
background	#FFC2E0
name
image	2002 AJ129-orbit (multilingual).svg
caption	The orbit is highly elliptical, moving outside Mars and inside Mercury. Positions shown for 31 January 2018 before flyby.
discovery_ref
discoverer	NEAT
discovery_site	Haleakala Obs.
discovered	15 January 2002
mpc_name	(276033)
alt_names
mp_category	{{Ubl
PHA<ref name	"jpldata" /
orbit_ref
epoch	4 September 2017 (JD 2458000.5)
uncertainty	0
observation_arc	14.23 yr (5,199 days)
aphelion	2.6254 AU
perihelion	0.1167 AU
semimajor	1.3711 AU
eccentricity	0.9149
period	1.61 yr (586 days)
mean_anomaly	288.23°
mean_motion	/ day
inclination	15.449°
asc_node	138.05°
arg_peri	211.01°
moid	0.0060 AU (2.3 LD)
mean_diameter	0.5–1.2 km
abs_magnitude	18.7

****, provisional designation , is a Mercury-crossing asteroid. It has the ninth-smallest perihelion of all numbered asteroids, after asteroids such as , , and . It makes close approaches to all of the inner planets and asteroid 4 Vesta. The asteroid is estimated to be between 0.5 - across. In January 2018 there was much media hype about this asteroid being classified as a potentially hazardous asteroid, although there is no known threat of an impact for hundreds if not thousands of years. The media has compared the size of the asteroid to the Burj Khalifa in Dubai.

Description

was discovered on 15 January 2002 by astronomers of the NEAT team at Haleakala Observatory, Hawaii, United States. It was removed from the Sentry Risk Table on 3 February 2002.

It is a Mercury-, Venus-, Earth- and Mars-crossing asteroid. With an observation arc of 14 years, it has a well determined orbit and was last observed in 2016. It is classified as an Apollo asteroid because it is a near-Earth asteroid with a semi-major axis larger than Earth's. It is also categorized as a potentially hazardous asteroid, but that does not mean there is a near-term threat of an impact. It is a potentially hazardous asteroid merely as a result of its size (absolute magnitude H ≤ 22) and Earth minimum orbit intersection distance (Earth MOID ≤ 0.05 AU).

2018 approach

On 4 February 2018 at 21:31 UT, the asteroid passed about 0.028126 AU from Earth. The 2018 Earth approach distance was known with a 3-sigma accuracy of ±200 km. Goldstone is scheduled to observe the asteroid from 3 to 6 February. By 4 February 2018 11:00 UT, the asteroid brightened to apparent magnitude 14 and had a solar elongation of more than 100°.

2172 approach

On 8 February 2172, the asteroid will pass about 0.00458 AU from Earth. The 2172 Earth approach distance is known with a 3-sigma accuracy of ±4000 km.

As we look even further into the future the known trajectory becomes more divergent. By the Earth approach of 0.24 AU on 19 February 2196 the uncertainty increases to ±2.4 million km.

References

[https://newton.spacedys.com/astdys/index.php?pc=1.1.0&n=276033 AstDys-2] Retrieved 2011 September 13
[https://newton.spacedys.com/neodys2/index.php?pc=1.1.9&n=276033 NeoDys-2] Retrieved 2011 September 13
[https://newton.spacedys.com/neodys2/index.php?pc=1.1.8&n=276033 NEODyS-2 Close approaches]
[http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb_query.cgi?obj_group=all;obj_kind=ast;obj_numbered=all;OBJ_field=0;ORB_field=0;c1_group=ORB;c1_item=Bi;c1_op=%3C;c1_value=0.3075;table_format=HTML;max_rows=200;format_option=comp;c_fields=BgBhBiBjBnBsChAcCq;.cgifields=format_option;.cgifields=ast_orbit_class;.cgifields=table_format;.cgifields=obj_kind;.cgifields=obj_group;.cgifields=obj_numbered;.cgifields=com_orbit_class&query=1&c_sort=BiA List of asteroids with q<0.3075 AU generated by the JPL Small-Body Database Search Engine] Retrieved 2011 September 10
"NEOs Removed from Impact Risks Tables".
"A 'potentially hazardous' asteroid bigger than Burj Khalifa is about to fly near our planet". Business Insider.

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.

apollo-asteroids discoveries-by-neat earth-crossing-asteroids mercury-crossing-asteroids venus-crossing-asteroids potentially-hazardous-asteroids near-earth-objects-removed-from-the-sentry-risk-table near-earth-objects-in-2018 astronomical-objects-discovered-in-2002

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