is an

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. ...

, classified as a near-Earth object and a

potentially hazardous asteroid 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 are ...

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 ...

. It is a possible candidate for the

parent body In meteoritics, a parent body is the celestial body from which originates a meteorite or a class of meteorites. Identification The easiest way to correlate a meteorite with a parent body is when the parent body still exists. This is the case fo ...

of the Chelyabinsk superbolide.

Discovery, orbit and physical properties

was discovered by

Richard A. Kowalski Richard A. Kowalski (born 1963) is an American astronomer who has discovered numerous asteroids and comets, among them, many near-Earth objects. Kowalski has had a lifelong interest in astronomy with an emphasis on planetary science. As an amate ...

on 10 March 2011 while observing for the Mount Lemmon Survey.Discovery MPEC
/ref> Its orbit is typical of Apollo asteroids and is characterized by significant eccentricity (0.54), low inclination (3.36º), and a semi-major axis of 1.65 AU.MPC data on 2011 EO40
/ref> Upon discovery, it was classified as an Earth crosser, a

near-Earth asteroid 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). ...

(NEA) and a

(PHA) 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 ...

. It was listed on the Sentry Risk Table for less than one day. Its orbit is in need of additional observations to determine if it is part of an

asteroid family An asteroid family is a population of asteroids that share similar proper orbital elements, such as semimajor axis, eccentricity, and orbital inclination. The members of the families are thought to be fragments of past asteroid collisions. An a ...

; as of October 2015 the orbit is determined using just twenty observations spanning an observation arc of 34 days. has an absolute magnitude of 21.5, which gives a characteristic diameter of about .

Relationship to the Chelyabinsk superbolide

Recent calculations indicate that this object is a plausible candidate to be the parent body of the Chelyabinsk superbolide, since its orbit is very similar to the computed, pre-impact path of the Chelyabinsk meteoroid. It has relatively frequent close encounters with Venus, the Earth– Moon system, and Mars. It had a close encounter with Earth on 28 January 2011 at , and it will have a

nominal Nominal may refer to: Linguistics and grammar * Nominal (linguistics), one of the parts of speech * Nominal, the adjectival form of "noun", as in "nominal agreement" (= "noun agreement") * Nominal sentence, a sentence without a finite verb * Nou ...

Earth approach on 23 September 2025 at about . Asteroid experiences close approaches to the Earth–Moon system following a rather regular pattern, every 17 years approximately due to the combined action of multiple

secular resonance A secular resonance is a type of orbital resonance between two bodies with synchronized precessional frequencies. In celestial mechanics, secular refers to the long-term motion of a system, and resonance is periods or frequencies being a simple nu ...

Visibility

Future opposition windows are: 7 June 2016 at magnitude 24.5, and 28 May 2018 at magnitude 24.6. The best observation window will be on 2–23 September 2025. Depending on the Earth approach distance (0.04–0.12 AU), it should be brighter than magnitude 19.

Notes

* This is assuming an albedo of 0.20–0.04.

References

External links