 | |
| Discovery | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | Eleanor F. Helin |
| Discovery date | 10 May 1991 |
| Designations | |
| (6489) Golevka | |
| 1991 JX | |
| Orbital characteristics [1] | |
| Epoch 6 November 2001 (JD 2452219.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 0 | |
| Observation arc | 8968 days (24.55 yr) |
| Aphelion | 4.021663 AU (601.6322 Gm) |
| Perihelion | 0.992813 AU (148.5227 Gm) |
| 2.507238 AU (375.0775 Gm) | |
| Eccentricity | 0.604021 |
| 3.97 yr (1450.1 d) | |
| 213.841234° | |
| 0° 14m 53.744s / day | |
| Inclination | 2.278065° |
| 211.596909° | |
| 65.939347° | |
| Earth MOID | 0.0288423 AU (4.31475 Gm) |
| Jupiter MOID | 1.13922 AU (170.425 Gm) |
| TJupiter | 3.181 |
| Physical characteristics | |
| 0.53 km [1] | |
| Mass | 2.10×1011 kg |
Mean density | 2.7+0.4 −0.6 g/cm3 |
| 6.026 h (0.2511 d) [1] | |
| 0.151 ± 0.023 [1] | |
| Q | |
| 19.2 [1] | |
6489 Golevka is an Apollo, Mars-crosser, and Alinda asteroid discovered in 1991 by Eleanor F. Helin.
Its name has a complicated origin. In 1995, Golevka was studied simultaneously by three radar observatories across the world: Goldstone in California, Yevpatoria RT-70 radio telescope in Ukraine (Yevpatoria is sometimes romanized as Evpatoria) and Kashima in Japan. 'Golevka' comes from the first few letters of each observatory's name; it was proposed by the discoverer following a suggestion by Alexander L. Zaitsev.
Golevka is a small object, measuring 0.6 × 1.4 km. The radar observations revealed that it has a very strange, angular shape that looks different depending on the direction. In 2003 the Yarkovsky effect was first observed at work by high-precision radar observations of Golevka. [2] Between 1991 and 2003, the small force of the Yarkovsky effect caused a shift of 15 kilometers (9.3 mi) from what would be expected based on only gravitational interactions. [2] This helped evaluate the asteroid's bulk density (2.7 ± 0.5 g/cm3) and mass (2.10×1011 kg).
Golevka approaches Earth to 0.05 AU (7,500,000 km ; 4,600,000 mi ) in 2046, 0.10 AU in 2069, and 0.11 AU in 2092. [3] On the other hand, Golevka's collision probability with any planet is negligible for at least the next nine centuries. [4] Its orbit is strikingly similar to that of 4179 Toutatis in eccentricity, semi-major axis, and inclination. However, Toutatis is better known due to a close approach to Earth in 2004.
