| Discovery | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | Pan-STARRS 1 |
| Discovery date | 14 April 2012 |
| Designations | |
| 2012 GX17 | |
| Orbital characteristics | |
| Epoch 31 May 2020 (JD 2459000.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 1 | |
| Observation arc | 2930 days (8.02 yr) |
| Aphelion | 57.826 AU (8.6506 Tm) |
| Perihelion | 16.9434206 AU (2.53469964 Tm) |
| 37.3849220 AU (5.59270473 Tm) | |
| Eccentricity | 0.5467846 |
| 228.59 yr (83491.6 d) | |
| 49.28874° | |
| 0° 0m 15.523s / day | |
| Inclination | 32.53975° |
| 209.23931° | |
| 243.62742° | |
| Earth MOID | 16.0869 AU (2.40657 Tm) |
| Jupiter MOID | 12.6178 AU (1.88760 Tm) |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Dimensions | 60–200 km |
| 0.5–0.05 (assumed) | |
| 7.6 | |
2012 GX17, also written as 2012 GX17, is a minor body classified as a centaur and trans-Neptunian object by the Minor Planet Center. [1] The object was once considered a promising Neptune L5 trojan candidate. [2]
2012 GX17 was discovered on 14 April 2012 by the Pan-STARRS 1 telescope, observing from Haleakala, Hawaii. [1]
2012 GX17 follows a rather eccentric orbit (0.55) with a semi-major axis of 37.4 AU. [3] This object also has high orbital inclination (32.5º). [3]
2012 GX17 is a rather large minor body with an absolute magnitude of 7.6 which gives a characteristic diameter of 60–200 km for an assumed albedo in the range 0.5–0.05.
Initially, 2012 GX17 was considered to be a promising Neptune trojan candidate, [2] based on a very preliminary determination of 30.13 AU for its semi-major axis. However, the true value is much larger (37.4 AU) and it is now classified as a trans-Neptunian object.