(also written
2014 OL339) is an
Aten
Aten also Aton, Atonu, or Itn ( egy, jtn, ''reconstructed'' ) was the focus of Atenism, the religious system established in ancient Egypt by the Eighteenth Dynasty pharaoh Akhenaten. The Aten was the disc of the sun and originally an aspect o ...
asteroid that is a temporary
quasi-satellite
A quasi-satellite is an object in a specific type of co-orbital configuration (1:1 orbital resonance) with a planet (or dwarf planet) where the object stays close to that planet over many orbital periods.
A quasi-satellite's orbit around the Sun t ...
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 ...
, the fourth known Earth quasi-satellite.
Discovery
was discovered on 29 July 2014 by Farid Char of the Chilean
University of Antofagasta. The actual observers were O. Vaduvescu and V. Tudor, observing from the
Roque de los Muchachos Observatory
Roque de los Muchachos Observatory ( es, Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos, ORM) is an astronomical observatory located in the municipality of Garafía on the island of La Palma in the Canary Islands, Spain. The observatory site is operated b ...
for the
EURONEAR
EURONEAR, the European Near Earth Asteroids Research, is a research project and network for the research and discovery of near-Earth objects and potentially hazardous asteroids using existing telescopes located in both hemispheres available to th ...
project with the
Isaac Newton Telescope
The Isaac Newton Telescope or INT is a 2.54 m (100 in) optical telescope run by the Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes at Roque de los Muchachos Observatory on La Palma in the Canary Islands since 1984.
Originally the INT was situated at He ...
. The intended target of the program was the Apollo asteroid but F. Char identified as a streak near the edge of the observed field.
[Discovery account]
/ref> As of 14 August 2015, it has been observed 39 times with an observation arc
In observational astronomy, the observation arc (or arc length) of a Solar System body is the time period between its earliest and latest observations, used for tracing the body's path. It is usually given in days or years. The term is mostly use ...
of 381 days.[
]
Orbit and orbital evolution
is currently an Aten asteroid
The Aten asteroids are a dynamical group of asteroids whose orbits bring them into proximity with Earth. By definition, Atens are Earth-crossing asteroids . The group is named after 2062 Aten, the first of its kind, discovered on 7 January ...
(Earth-crossing but with a period less than a year). Its semi-major axis (currently 0.9994 AU) is similar to that of Earth (0.9992 AU), but it has a relatively high eccentricity (0.4607) and moderate orbital inclination (10.1910°). Gravitational interaction with Earth causes its orbit to change so that its average period is one year (This means it alternates between being an Aten asteroid and being an Apollo asteroid
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 ...
.) Its mean longitude Mean longitude is the ecliptic longitude at which an orbiting body could be found if its orbit were circular and free of perturbations. While nominally a simple longitude, in practice the mean longitude does not correspond to any one physical angle ...
(around the Sun) is similar to that of Earth, which means that it is fairly close to Earth (less than about 1.5 AU). This makes it a quasi-satellite. It moves in a kidney
The kidneys are two reddish-brown bean-shaped organs found in vertebrates. They are located on the left and right in the retroperitoneal space, and in adult humans are about in length. They receive blood from the paired renal arteries; blo ...
-shaped path going from east to west relative to Earth ("retrograde", the opposite way from the Moon). The relative mean longitude compared to Earth (that is, its mean longitude minus that of Earth) librates around zero. This means that the center of the "kidney" moves back and forth over a period of years, from being in front of Earth to being behind Earth, but this movement is centered on Earth.[
It became a quasi-satellite at least 775 years ago and will stop being that 165 years from now after a "close" encounter with Earth (0.13 AU). This quasi-satellite episode will have had a duration of around a thousand years or more, but less than 2,500 years. Before and after this episode it passes in and out of other types of co-orbital orbits, such as being a ]trojan
Trojan or Trojans may refer to:
* Of or from the ancient city of Troy
* Trojan language, the language of the historical Trojans
Arts and entertainment Music
* ''Les Troyens'' ('The Trojans'), an opera by Berlioz, premiered part 1863, part 189 ...
or a "passing object" (one whose relative longitude to Earth can attain any value, which is not the case for a quasi-satellite or a Trojan).[
]
Physical properties
With an absolute magnitude
Absolute magnitude () is a measure of the luminosity of a celestial object on an inverse logarithmic astronomical magnitude scale. An object's absolute magnitude is defined to be equal to the apparent magnitude that the object would have if it ...
of 22.9,albedo
Albedo (; ) is the measure of the diffuse reflection of solar radiation out of the total solar radiation and measured on a scale from 0, corresponding to a black body that absorbs all incident radiation, to 1, corresponding to a body that refl ...
of 0.25, which is typical for stony asteroids.
See also
*
*
*
References
;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.
Asteroid 2014 OL339: yet another Earth quasi-satellite
de la Fuente Marcos, Carlos; de la Fuente Marcos, Raúl (2014), ''Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society'', Vol. 445, Issue 3, pp. 2985–2994.
External links
''Minor Planet Electronic Circular
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
T ...
'', Minor Planet Center
Physical properties
AstDys-2 on 2014 OL339
NEODyS-2 on 2014 OL339
The discoverer of
Press summary
Original press release
Account of the discovery
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:2014 OL339
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Minor planet object articles (unnumbered)
Venus-crossing asteroids
Earth-crossing asteroids
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20140729
Discoveries by EURONEAR