2005 NB56

Last updated

2005 NB56
Discovery [1]
Discovered by Mount Lemmon Survey
Discovery site Summerhaven, Arizona, US
Discovery date11 July 2005
Designations
2005 NB56
Orbital characteristics [2]
Epoch 14 July 2005 (JD  2453565.5)
Uncertainty parameter 7
Observation arc 17 [1]   d
Aphelion 2.41707  AU (361.589  Gm)
Perihelion 0.86585 AU (129.529 Gm)
1.64146 AU (245.559 Gm)
Eccentricity 0.47251
2.10  yr (768.15  d)
25.175°
0° 28m 7.176s /day
Inclination 6.7563°
112.359°
114.15°
Earth  MOID 0.0163799 AU (2,450,400 km)
Jupiter  MOID 2.5887 AU (387.26 Gm)
Physical characteristics
Mean diameter
~170 m [3]
22.9 [2]

    2005 NB56, also written as 2005 NB56, is a near-Earth asteroid of the Apollo group. [2] In 2009, research physicist Edward Drobyshevski and colleagues have suggested that 2005 NB56 could be a possible source of the meteoroid that caused the Tunguska event on 30 June 1908. It has been also suspected to be a dormant comet. [4]

    Contents

    Possible source of the Tunguska event bolide

    One study "suggests that a chunk of a comet caused the 5-10 megaton fireball, bouncing off the atmosphere and back into orbit around the sun." [4]

    This object made a close approach to Earth when it was discovered in 2005 and will do so again in 2045. [5] This object has a poorly known orbit and was only observed over an observation arc of 17 days, not sufficient to predict its position in 1908 with sufficient accuracy. [2]

    Related Research Articles

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    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). If a NEO's orbit crosses the Earth's orbit, and the object is larger than 140 meters (460 ft) across, it is considered a potentially hazardous object (PHO). Most known PHOs and NEOs are asteroids, but a small fraction are comets.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Tunguska event</span> 1908 meteor air burst explosion in Siberia

    The Tunguska event was an approximately 12-megaton explosion that occurred near the Podkamennaya Tunguska River in Yeniseysk Governorate, Russia, on the morning of 30 June 1908. The explosion over the sparsely populated East Siberian taiga flattened an estimated 80 million trees over an area of 2,150 km2 (830 sq mi) of forest, and eyewitness reports suggest that at least three people may have died in the event. The explosion is generally attributed to a meteor air burst: the atmospheric explosion of a stony asteroid about 50–60 metres in size. The asteroid approached from the east-south-east, and probably with a relatively high speed of about 27 km/s (60,000 mph). Though it is classified as an impact event, the object is thought to have exploded at an altitude of 5 to 10 kilometres rather than having hit the surface of the Earth, leaving no impact crater.

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    <span class="nowrap">2009 DD<sub>45</sub></span>

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    <span class="mw-page-title-main">(4953) 1990 MU</span>

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    <span class="nowrap">2015 TB<sub>145</sub></span> Asteroid

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    References

    1. 1 2 "2005 NB56". Minor Planet Center . Retrieved 9 August 2017.
    2. 1 2 3 4 "(2005 NB56)". JPL Small-Body Database . Jet Propulsion Laboratory. SPK-ID:  3283898 . Retrieved 9 August 2017.
    3. Drobyshevski, E. M.; Galushina, T. Yu; Drobyshevski, M. E. (March 2009). "A search for a present-day candidate for the Comet P/Tunguska-1908". arXiv: 0903.3313 [astro-ph.EP].
    4. 1 2 When Comets Attack: Solving the Mystery of the Biggest Natural Explosion in Modern History, By Mark Anderson, Popular Mechanics
    5. "NEODyS: 2005NB56". Department of Mathematics, University of Pisa, ITALY. Retrieved 19 May 2009.