| Discovery [1] | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | LINEAR |
| Discovery site | Lincoln Lab's ETS |
| Discovery date | 27 August 2002 |
| Designations | |
| (68950) 2002 QF15 | |
| 2002 QF15 | |
| NEO · PHA · Apollo [1] [2] | |
| Orbital characteristics [1] | |
| Epoch 4 September 2017 (JD 2458000.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 0 | |
| Observation arc | 61.85 yr (22,591 days) |
| Aphelion | 1.4206 AU |
| Perihelion | 0.6930 AU |
| 1.0568 AU | |
| Eccentricity | 0.3442 |
| 1.09 yr (397 days) | |
| 216.46° | |
| 0° 54m 25.92s / day | |
| Inclination | 25.155° |
| 236.24° | |
| 255.51° | |
| Earth MOID | 0.0068 AU ·2.6 LD |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Dimensions | 1.12±0.03 km [3] 3.49 km (calculated) [4] |
| 29 h [a] 47.0±0.5 h [5] | |
| 0.040(assumed) [4] 0.428±0.029 [3] | |
| S [4] | |
| 16.4 [1] [3] [4] | |
(68950) 2002 QF15 is a stony asteroid, classified as near-Earth object and potentially hazardous asteroid of the Apollo group, that measures approximately 2 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 27 August 2002, by the LINEAR project at Lincoln Laboratory's Experimental Test Site in Socorro, New Mexico, United States. [2]
2002 QF15 is a S-type asteroid that orbits the Sun at a distance of 0.7–1.4 AU once every 1 years and 1 month (397 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.34 and an inclination of 25° with respect to the ecliptic. [1] Taken at Palomar Observatory in 1955, a first precovery from the during the Digitized Sky Survey extends the body's observation arc by 47 years prior to its official discovery observation at Socorro. [2]
It has an Earth minimum orbital intersection distance 0.0063 AU (942,000 km), which translates into 2.6 LD. [1]
In June 2006, a rotational lightcurve of 2002 QF15 was obtained from photometric observation taken by American astronomer Brian Warner at his Palmer Divide Observatory in Colorado. Lightcurve analysis gave a rotation period of 47 hours with a brightness variation of 0.35 magnitude ( U=2 ), [5] superseding a lightcurve previously obtained by Czech astronomer Petr Pravec at Ondřejov Observatory in 2003, which gave a shorter period of 29 hours and an amplitude of 0.3 magnitude ( U=2- ). [a]
According to the survey carried out by the Japanese Akari satellite, the asteroid measures 1.12 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo of 0.428, [3] while the Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes an albedo of 0.040 and calculates a diameter of 3.49 kilometers with an absolute magnitude of 16.4. [4]
This minor planet was numbered by the Minor Planet Center on 10 September 2003. [6] As of 2018, it has not been named. [2]
