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 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 ...

, with an estimated diameter of . It was first observed on 9 February 2018, by astronomers of the Catalina Sky Survey at

Mount Lemmon Observatory Mount Lemmon Observatory (MLO), also known as the Mount Lemmon Infrared Observatory, is an astronomical observatory located on Mount Lemmon in the Santa Catalina Mountains approximately northeast of Tucson, Arizona (US). The site in the Coronad ...

, Arizona, during its close approach to Earth.

Orbit and classification

is an Apollo asteroid. Apollo's cross the orbit of Earth and are the largest group of

near-Earth objects 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). ...

with nearly 10 thousand known members. It orbits the Sun at a distance of 0.92–1.34 AU once every 14 months (438 days;

semi-major axis In geometry, the major axis of an ellipse is its longest diameter: a line segment that runs through the center and both foci, with ends at the two most widely separated points of the perimeter. The semi-major axis (major semiaxis) is the long ...

of 1.13 AU). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.18 and an inclination of 27 ° with respect to the ecliptic. It is, however, not a Mars-crossing asteroid, as its aphelion of 1.34 AU is less than the orbit of the Red Planet at 1.666 AU. The body's observation arc begins its first observation at Mount Lemmon in February 2018.

Close approaches

The object has a minimum orbital intersection distance with Earth of , which corresponds to 17.6 lunar distances (LD). On 14 February 2018, 14:44 UTC, it came within 18.66 LD of the Earth ''(see diagrams)''. Its next close approach will be on 14 February 2024, at a similar distance.

Physical characteristics

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 ...

estimates a diameter of 59–190 meters. Based on a generic magnitude-to-diameter conversion, measures between 100 and 190 meters in diameter, for an absolute magnitude of 22.33, and an assumed albedo between 0.057 and 0.20, which represent typical values for carbonaceous and stony asteroids, respectively. As of 2018, no rotational lightcurve of has been obtained from photometric observations. The body's

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 ...

, pole and shape remain unknown.

Numbering and naming

This minor planet has neither been numbered nor named.

References

External links