2015 XX169

2015 XX₁₆₉

Discovery
Discovered by	Mount Lemmon Survey
Discovery date	December 9, 2015
Designations
MPC designation	2015 XX169
Minor planet category	Aten asteroid,[1][2] Earth crosser
Orbital characteristics[2][3][4]
Epoch January 13, 2016 (JD 2457400.5)
Uncertainty parameter 5
Observation arc	4 days
Aphelion	1.18333 AU
Perihelion	0.81614 AU
Semi-major axis	0.99974 AU
Eccentricity	0.18364
Orbital period	0.99962 y (365.11 d)
Mean anomaly	310.655°
Inclination	7.691°
Longitude of ascending node	256.7497°
Argument of perihelion	283.918°
Earth MOID	0.0150 AU
Physical characteristics
Dimensions	9–22 m^[a][5]
Absolute magnitude (H)	27.4[2]

2015 XX₁₆₉ (also written 2015 XX169) is an Aten asteroid that is a temporary horseshoe companion to the Earth, the tenth known Earth horseshoe librator.^[6] A close encounter with the Earth on 2015 December 14 caused the value of the semi-major axis of 2015 XX₁₆₉ to drift slowly upwards and the object will become an Apollo asteroid about a year after this close approach.

Discovery

2015 XX₁₆₉ was discovered on 2015 December 9 by R. G. Matheny observing with the 1.5-m reflector telescope at the Mount Lemmon Survey.^[7] As of 9 March 2016, it has been observed 37 times with an observation arc of 4 days.^[2]

Orbit and orbital evolution

2015 XX₁₆₉ is currently an Aten asteroid (Earth-crossing but with a period less than a year). Its semi-major axis (currently 0.99974 AU) is similar to that of Earth (1.00074 AU), but it has a relatively low eccentricity (0.18364) and moderate orbital inclination (7.691°). It alternates between being an Aten asteroid and being an Apollo asteroid, changing dynamical status every 130 years approximately. As of 9 March 2016, this object is the 15th known Earth co-orbital and the 10th known object following a horseshoe path with respect to our planet. Asteroid 2015 XX₁₆₉ follows an asymmetrical horseshoe path with respect to our planet; the value of its relative mean longitude oscillates about 180°, but enclosing 0°.^[6]

Physical properties

With an absolute magnitude of 27.4 mag, it has a diameter in the range 9–22 meters (for an assumed albedo range of 0.04–0.20, respectively).

See also

• 54509 YORP
• (419624) 2010 SO16
• 3753 Cruithne
• 2015 SO2
• 2015 YA
• 2015 YQ1

Notes

• ^{^} This is assuming an albedo of 0.20–0.04.

References

1. List Of Aten Minor Planets
2. 2015 XX169 at the JPL Small-Body Database

   • Discovery · Orbit diagram · Orbital elements · Physical parameters Retrieved 2016-03-09

3. AstDys-2 on 2015 XX169 Retrieved 2016-03-09
4. NEODyS-2 on 2015 XX169 Retrieved 2016-03-09
5. Absolute-magnitude conversion table (H)
6. de la Fuente Marcos, Carlos; de la Fuente Marcos, Raúl (1 April 2016). "A trio of horseshoes: past, present and future dynamical evolution of Earth co-orbital asteroids 2015 XX169, 2015 YA and 2015 YQ1". Astrophysics and Space Science 361 (4): 121 (13 pages). arXiv:1603.02415. Bibcode:2016Ap&SS.361..121D. doi:10.1007/s10509-016-2711-6.
7. Discovery MPEC

Further reading

• Understanding the Distribution of Near-Earth Asteroids Bottke, W. F., Jedicke, R., Morbidelli, A., Petit, J.-M., Gladman, B. 2000, Science, Vol. 288, Issue 5474, pp. 2190–2194.
• A Numerical Survey of Transient Co-orbitals of the Terrestrial Planets Christou, A. A. 2000, Icarus, Vol. 144, Issue 1, pp. 1–20.
• Debiased Orbital and Absolute Magnitude Distribution of the Near-Earth Objects Bottke, W. F., Morbidelli, A., Jedicke, R., Petit, J.-M., Levison, H. F., Michel, P., Metcalfe, T. S. 2002, Icarus, Vol. 156, Issue 2, pp. 399–433.
• Transient co-orbital asteroids Brasser, R., Innanen, K. A., Connors, M., Veillet, C., Wiegert, P., Mikkola, S., Chodas, P. W. 2004, Icarus, Vol. 171, Issue 1, pp. 102–109.
• A trio of horseshoes: past, present and future dynamical evolution of Earth co-orbital asteroids 2015 XX₁₆₉, 2015 YA and 2015 YQ₁ de la Fuente Marcos, C., de la Fuente Marcos, R. 2016, Astrophysics and Space Science, Vol. 361, Issue 4, article 121 (13 pp.)

External links

• Discovery MPEC
• 2015 XX₁₆₉ data at MPC
• ADS MPEC record
• Sciency Thoughts blog entry
• 2015 XX169 at the JPL Small-Body Database

• Discovery · Orbit diagram · Orbital elements · Physical parameters