(153591) 2001 SN263

(153591) 2001 SN263
Discovery
Discovered by LINEAR
Discovery date 20 September 2001
Designations
Amor asteroid, NEO
Orbital characteristics[1]
Epoch 13 January 2016 (JD 2457400.5)[1]
Uncertainty parameter 0
Observation arc 9198 days (25.18 yr)
Aphelion 2.93738213 AU (439.426112 Gm)
Perihelion 1.03628119 AU (155.025459 Gm)
1.98683166 AU (297.225786 Gm)
Eccentricity 0.47842527
2.80 yr (1022.9 d)
297.359818°
 21m 6.966s / day
Inclination 6.6857915°
325.831561°
172.862511°
Earth MOID 0.0504696 AU (7.55014 Gm)
Jupiter MOID 2.11282 AU (316.073 Gm)
Physical characteristics
Dimensions 2.8 km
Mean radius
1 km
Mass ~1.5×1013 kg
Mean density
1.3±0.6 g/cm³
Equatorial surface gravity
0.045 cm/s²
Equatorial escape velocity
110 cm/s
3.423 h (0.1426 d)
0.05
C-complex
16.9

    (153591) 2001 SN263 is a small near-Earth asteroid discovered by the LINEAR project in 2001. In 2008, scientists using the planetary radar at Arecibo Observatory discovered that the object is orbited by two satellites, when the triple asteroid made a close approach to Earth of 0.066 AU (nearly 10 million kilometers). The largest body is called Alpha and is spheroid in shape, with principal axes of 2.8±.1 km, 2.7±.1 km, and 2.5±.2 km and a density of nearly 1.3±0.6 g cm−3,[2] and the satellites, named Beta and Gamma, are several times smaller in size. Beta is 1.1 km in diameter and Gamma 0.4 km.

    The only other unambiguously identified triple asteroid in the near-Earth population is (136617) 1994 CC, which was discovered to be a triple system in 2009.

    Orbital characteristics of satellites

    The orbital properties of the satellites are listed in this table.[3] The orbital planes of both satellites are inclined relative to each other; the relative inclination is about 14 degrees. Such a large inclination is suggestive of past evolutionary events (e.g. close encounter with a terrestrial planet, mean-motion-resonance crossing) that may have excited their orbits from a coplanar configuration to an inclined state.

    Name Mass [kg] Semi-major axis [km] Orbital period [days] Eccentricity
    Gamma (inner) ~10×1010 3.8 0.686 0.016
    Beta (outer) ~24×1010 16.6 6.225 0.015

    References

    External links

    This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Friday, April 08, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.