(549948) 2011 WL2

Last updated

(549948) 2011 WL2
Discovery [1]
Discovered by LINEAR
Discovery site Lincoln Laboratory ETS
Discovery date16 November 2011
Designations
(549948) 2011 WL2
2011 WL2
Apollo Minor Planets - Apollo.svg
NEO, PHA
Orbital characteristics [2]
Epoch 13 January 2016 (JD 2457400.5)
Uncertainty parameter 2
Observation arc 386 days (1.06 yr)
Aphelion 1.3833510  AU (206.94636  Gm)
Perihelion 0.7723798 AU (115.54637 Gm)
1.0778654 AU (161.24637 Gm)
Eccentricity 0.283417
1.12 yr (408.74 d)
Average orbital speed
28.10406 km/s
336.9187°
0° 52m 50.734s /day
Inclination 14.12974°
212.9462°
88.83006°
Earth  MOID 0.00141998 AU (212,426 km)
Jupiter  MOID 3.83997 AU (574.451 Gm)
Physical characteristics
Mean diameter
190–420 m [3]
20.8 [2]

    (549948) 2011 WL2 is a sub-kilometer asteroid, classified as a near-Earth object and potentially hazardous asteroid of the Apollo group. It was discovered on 16 November 2011, by astronomers with the LINEAR at the Lincoln Laboratory ETS near Socorro, New Mexico, in the United States.

    Contents

    Orbit

    2011 WL2 is a potentially hazardous asteroid (PHA), but has a well determined orbit with a 10 year observation arc. 2011 WL2 will pass at a distance of 0.0056 AU (840,000 km; 520,000 mi) from Earth on 25 October 2077. [2] For comparison, the distance to the Moon is about 0.0026 AU (384,400 km). 2011 WL2 appears on the list of PHA close approaches issued by the Minor Planet Center (MPC), with the next close approach in the year 2038. [4]

    The Jupiter Tisserand invariant, used to distinguish different kinds of orbits, is 5.7. [2]

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    References

    1. "2011 WL2". Minor Planet Center. 6 December 2012.
    2. 1 2 3 4 "JPL Small-Body Database Browser: 2011 WL2)" (last observation: 2012-12-06; arc: 386 days). Jet Propulsion Laboratory . Retrieved 1 April 2016.
    3. "ABSOLUTE MAGNITUDE (H)". NASA. Archived from the original on 2 March 2001.
    4. "PHA Close Approaches To The Earth". Minor Planet Center . Retrieved 29 May 2015.