2201 Oljato, provisional designation , is a stony and extremely eccentric

active Active may refer to: Music * ''Active'' (album), a 1992 album by Casiopea * Active Records, a record label Ships * ''Active'' (ship), several commercial ships by that name * HMS ''Active'', the name of various ships of the British Royal ...

asteroid An asteroid is a minor planet of the inner Solar System. Sizes and shapes of asteroids vary significantly, ranging from 1-meter rocks to a dwarf planet almost 1000 km in diameter; they are rocky, metallic or icy bodies with no atmosphere. ...

and sizable

near-Earth object A near-Earth object (NEO) is any small Solar System body whose orbit brings it into proximity with Earth. By convention, a Solar System body is a NEO if its closest approach to the Sun (perihelion) is less than 1.3 astronomical units (AU). ...

of the

Apollo group Apollo Education Group, Inc. is an American corporation based in the South Phoenix area of Phoenix, Arizona, with an additional corporate office in Chicago, Illinois. The company owns and operates several higher-learning institutions, including ...

, approximately 2 kilometers in diameter. It has an Earth

minimum orbit intersection distance Minimum orbit intersection distance (MOID) is a measure used in astronomy to assess potential close approaches and collision risks between astronomical objects. It is defined as the distance between the closest points of the osculating orbits of ...

of and is associated with the

Beta Taurids The Beta Taurids (β–Taurids) are an annual meteor shower belonging to a class of "daytime showers" that peak after sunrise. The Beta Taurids are best observed by radar and radio-echo techniques. The Beta Taurids are normally active from June ...

daytime meteor shower.

Discovery

''Oljato'' was discovered by American astronomer

Henry L. Giclas Henry Lee Giclas (December 9, 1910 – April 2, 2007) was an American astronomer and a discoverer of minor planets and comets. He worked at Lowell Observatory using the blink comparator, and hired Robert Burnham Jr. to work there. He also work ...

at the U.S

Lowell Observatory Lowell Observatory is an astronomical observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, United States. Lowell Observatory was established in 1894, placing it among the oldest observatories in the United States, and was designated a National Historic Landmark ...

in Flagstaff, Arizona, on 12 December 1947. After its discovery, this near-Earth Apollo asteroid became a

lost asteroid A minor planet is "lost" when today's observers cannot find it, because its location is too uncertain to target observations. This happens if the orbital elements of a minor planet are not known accurately enough, typically because the observat ...

for 32 years and was recovered under the provisional designation , by the American astronomers Passey and Bus at the Californian Palomar Observatory in 1979.

Orbit and classification

''Oljato'' is a member of the

Apollo asteroids The Apollo asteroids are a group of near-Earth asteroids named after 1862 Apollo, discovered by German astronomer Karl Reinmuth in the 1930s. They are Earth-crossing asteroids that have an orbital semi-major axis greater than that of the Earth ( ...

, a subgroup of near-Earth asteroids which cross the orbit of

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...

. It is also a

potentially hazardous object A potentially hazardous object (PHO) is a near-Earth object – either an asteroid or a comet – with an orbit that can make close approaches to the Earth and is large enough to cause significant regional damage in the event of impact. They ar ...

due to its size and its ''Earth minimum orbit intersection distance'' (

MOID Minimum orbit intersection distance (MOID) is a measure used in astronomy to assess potential close approaches and collision risks between astronomical objects. It is defined as the distance between the closest points of the osculating orbits of ...

) of , which is only about 1.2 lunar distances . It orbits the Sun at a distance of 0.6–3.7 AU once every 3 years and 3 months (1,172 days). Its orbit has an

eccentricity Eccentricity or eccentric may refer to: * Eccentricity (behavior), odd behavior on the part of a person, as opposed to being "normal" Mathematics, science and technology Mathematics * Off-center, in geometry * Eccentricity (graph theory) of a v ...

of 0.71 and an

inclination Orbital inclination measures the tilt of an object's orbit around a celestial body. It is expressed as the angle between a Plane of reference, reference plane and the orbital plane or Axis of rotation, axis of direction of the orbiting object ...

of 3 ° with respect to the

ecliptic The ecliptic or ecliptic plane is the orbital plane of the Earth around the Sun. From the perspective of an observer on Earth, the Sun's movement around the celestial sphere over the course of a year traces out a path along the ecliptic again ...

. It was a target of

Hubble search for transition comets Hubble search for transition comets (Transition Comets—UV Search for OH Emissions in Asteroids) was a study involving amateur astronomers and the use of the Hubble Space Telescope, one of only six studies involving amateur astronomers approved by ...

, a spectroscopic study involving amateur astronomers and the use of the Hubble Space Telescope. The asteroid belongs to the Taurid Complex ''(also see

Taurids The Taurids are an annual meteor shower, associated with the comet Encke. The Taurids are actually two separate showers, with a Southern and a Northern component. The Southern Taurids originated from Comet Encke, while the Northern Taurids or ...

)'', a group of near-Earth asteroids thought to be extinct cometary nuclei, that are associated with four

meteor shower A meteor shower is a celestial event in which a number of meteors are observed to radiate, or originate, from one point in the night sky. These meteors are caused by streams of cosmic debris called meteoroids entering Earth's atmosphere at extre ...

s on Earth, due to their disintegration. The Taurid Complex includes several other Apollo asteroids such as 4183 Cuno,

4341 Poseidon 4341 Poseidon ('' prov. designation:'' ) is a rare-type asteroid classified as near-Earth object of the Apollo group, approximately in diameter. It was discovered by American astronomer Carolyn Shoemaker at Palomar Observatory on 29 May 1987. Th ...

5143 Heracles 5143 Heracles, provisional designation , is a highly eccentric, rare-type asteroid and synchronous Binary asteroid, binary system, classified as near-Earth object of the Apollo asteroid, Apollo group, approximately 4.8 kilometers in diameter. The ...

, and 5731 Zeus.

Close approaches

The next notable close approach to Earth will be on 28 November 2024, passing at a nominal distance of . Due to the eccentricity of its orbit, Earth is not the only planet it passes. In 2044 it will pass close to

Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is sometimes called Earth's "sister" or "twin" planet as it is almost as large and has a similar composition. As an interior planet to Earth, Venus (like Mercury) appears in Earth's sky never fa ...

(on 24 Apr at 0.08 AU) as well as Earth (on 30 May at 0.129 AU), and in 2046 it will pass

Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the List of Solar System objects by size, largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a mass more than two and a half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined, but ...

(on 15 Jan at 1.4 AU). However, although it crosses the orbit of

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury (planet), Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Mars (mythology), Roman god of war. Mars is a terr ...

, it will pass Earth, Venus and Jupiter several times before the next notable close approach to Mars, which will not be until 30 July 2127, passing at a nominal distance of

Physical characteristics

''Oljato'' has a

rotation period The rotation period of a celestial object (e.g., star, gas giant, planet, moon, asteroid) may refer to its sidereal rotation period, i.e. the time that the object takes to complete a single revolution around its axis of rotation relative to the ...

of 26 hours. The stony asteroid is classified as a Sq-subtype in the SMASS taxonomic scheme, with a

geometric albedo In astronomy, the geometric albedo of a celestial body is the ratio of its actual brightness as seen from the light source (i.e. at zero phase angle) to that of an ''idealized'' flat, fully reflecting, diffusively scattering ( Lambertian) disk w ...

of 0.24. An alternative and exceptionally high albedo of 0.43 was determined by 11 observations from the Infrared Astronomical Satellite,

IRAS The Infrared Astronomical Satellite (Dutch: ''Infrarood Astronomische Satelliet'') (IRAS) was the first space telescope to perform a survey of the entire night sky at infrared wavelengths. Launched on 25 January 1983, its mission lasted ten mo ...

Naming

This

minor planet According to the International Astronomical Union (IAU), a minor planet is an astronomical object in direct orbit around the Sun that is exclusively classified as neither a planet nor a comet. Before 2006, the IAU officially used the term ''minor ...

was named after the Oljato–Monument Valley in Utah, on the Navajo Indian Reservation. The official naming citation was published by the

Minor Planet Center The Minor Planet Center (MPC) is the official body for observing and reporting on minor planets under the auspices of the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Founded in 1947, it operates at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. Function ...

on 28 March 1983 ().

Notes

References

External links

Search for meteor showers associated with Near-Earth Asteroids
– P. B. Babadzhanov, 2001
Asteroid Lightcurve Database (LCDB)
query form

)
Dictionary of Minor Planet Names
Google books

– Observatoire de Genève, Raoul Behrend * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Oljato 002201 002201 Discoveries by Henry L. Giclas 002201 Named minor planets 002201 002201 19471212