(7341) 1991 VK is a
near-Earth 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 ...
in 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. It is privately-owned by a consortium of investors including The Vistria Grou ...
. It was discovered by
Eleanor F. Helin
Eleanor Francis "Glo" Helin (née Francis, 19 November 1932 – 25 January 2009) was an American astronomer. She was principal investigator of the Near-Earth Asteroid Tracking (NEAT) program of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. (Some sources gi ...
and
Kenneth J. Lawrence at the
Palomar Observatory
The Palomar Observatory is an astronomical research observatory in the Palomar Mountains of San Diego County, California, United States. It is owned and operated by the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). Research time at the observat ...
in
California
California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
on 1 November 1991. It is listed as 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 which is large enough to cause significant regional damage in the event of impact. Th ...
.
[ Every five years (from 1946 through 2091) the asteroid makes a close approach to the Earth.][ The most recent close approach to Earth was on 25 January 2022 at a distance of .][
The object is suspected of displaying cometary activity.]
See also
* List of asteroid close approaches to Earth
* List of Earth-crossing minor planets
An Earth-crosser is a near-Earth asteroid whose orbit crosses that of Earth as observed from the ecliptic pole of Earth's orbit. The known numbered Earth-crossers are listed here. Those Earth-crossers whose semi-major axes are smaller than E ...
* List of minor planets: 7001–8000
References
External links
*
*
*
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Discoveries by Eleanor F. Helin
Discoveries by Kenneth J. Lawrence
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