Discovery [1] [2] | |
---|---|
Discovered by | LINEAR |
Discovery site | Lincoln Lab ETS |
Discovery date | 3 February 2001 |
Designations | |
(98943) Torifune | |
2001 CC21 1982 VE13 [1] | |
NEO · Apollo | |
Orbital characteristics [3] | |
Epoch 25 February 2023 (JD 2460000.5) | |
Uncertainty parameter 0 | |
Observation arc | 40.31 yr (14,725 days) |
Earliest precovery date | 10 November 1982 |
Aphelion | 1.259 AU |
Perihelion | 0.806 AU |
1.032 AU | |
Eccentricity | 0.2192 |
1.05 yr (383.1 d) | |
280.856° | |
0° 56m 23.328s / day | |
Inclination | 4.807° |
75.519° | |
179.441° | |
Earth MOID | 0.08303 AU (12,421,000 km) |
Physical characteristics | |
465±15 m [4] | |
5.02124±0.00001 h [4] | |
0.216±0.016 [4] | |
S | |
18.94±0.05 [4] ·18.74 [3] [1] | |
98943 Torifune (provisional designation 2001 CC21) is a stony near-Earth asteroid of the Apollo group, with a diameter of about 500 metres (1,600 feet). It was discovered by the Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research (LINEAR) survey at Socorro, New Mexico on 3 February 2001. [1] It is an upcoming flyby target of JAXA's Hayabusa2 extended mission, which will approach less than 100 km (62 mi) from the asteroid in July 2026. [5] [6]
This asteroid was discovered on 3 February 2001 by the Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research project near Socorro, New Mexico and given the provisional designation 2001 CC21. [1] After selecting the asteroid as a target for Hayabusa2 's extended mission, JAXA held a public naming campaign for the asteroid from December 2023 to May 2024. [7] A committee of Hayabusa2 team members and their children reviewed the 60 names submitted to the campaign and ultimately chose "Torifune". [8] The LINEAR team on behalf of the Hayabusa2 team proposed the name to the International Astronomical Union's Working Group for Small Body Nomenclature, which approved and announced the name on 23 September 2024. [8] [9] "Torifune" is an abbreviation of Ame-no-torifune, the name of a Japanese god and his ship, "which can travel safely at high speed like a bird and steady as a rock." [9]
Observations of Torifune's infrared thermal emission by the Spitzer Space Telescope in 2005 show that it is a small asteroid with a mean diameter of 465 m (1,526 ft). [4] : 1 The asteroid's diameter and brightness in visible light indicate it has a geometric albedo of 21.6%, which agrees with near-infrared spectroscopy observations which show that Torifune is a stony S-type asteroid composed of silicates and traces of pyroxene. [4] : 4–5 [10] Torifune was previously thought to be a calcium–aluminium-rich L-type asteroid when it was observed spectroscopically for the first time in 2004, but this was disproven by later spectroscopic observations in 2005 and 2023. [4] : 1 [10]
Photometric measurements of Torifune's light curve, or brightness over time, show that it is an elongated asteroid whose brightness fluctuates 0.75–1.1 magnitudes for every time it rotates in 5.02 hours. [4] : 2 The large light curve amplitude of Torifune indicates that its longest axis is at least 1.7 times longer than its shortest axis–this is suggestive of Torifune having either a contact binary shape or a single elongated shape. [4] : 3 Torifune's rotation period was first measured in January 2002, and later observations in 2003 between 2024 secured this period and refined it to 5.02124±0.00001 hours. [11] [4] : 2
On 5 March 2023, 20 people on the Honshu and Shikoku islands in Japan observed a stellar occultation by Torifune. Only one person recorded a positive detection of the occultation; the resulting chord length of Torifune was 449 m (1,473 ft). [4] : 4 The non-detections by the other observers indicate Torifune must be highly elongated with a long axis 2.7 times longer than its shortest axis. [12] [lower-alpha 1]
In September 2020, a mission extension for JAXA's Hayabusa2 asteroid sample return probe was selected to do additional flybys of two near-Earth asteroids: Torifune in July 2026 and a rendezvous with 1998 KY26 in July 2031. [5] [6] Hayabusa2 will flyby within 100 km (62 mi) of Torifune at a very high relative speed of 5 km/s (3.1 mi/s), which will pose a challenge for the spacecraft's navigation and tracking capabilities during the encounter. [6]
A near-Earth object (NEO) is any small Solar System body orbiting the Sun whose closest approach to the Sun (perihelion) is less than 1.3 times the Earth–Sun distance. This definition applies to the object's orbit around the Sun, rather than its current position, thus an object with such an orbit is considered an NEO even at times when it is far from making a close approach of Earth. If an 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 about 0.35% are comets.
16 Psyche is a large M-type asteroid, which was discovered by the Italian astronomer Annibale de Gasparis, on 17 March 1852 and named after the Greek goddess Psyche. The prefix "16" signifies that it was the sixteenth minor planet in order of discovery. It is the largest and most massive of the M-type asteroids, and one of the dozen most massive asteroids. It has a mean diameter of approximately 220 kilometers (140 mi) and contains about one percent of the cumulative mass of the whole asteroid belt. It was thought to be the exposed core of a protoplanet, but recent observations cast doubt on that hypothesis. Psyche will be explored by NASA, with a spacecraft of the same name, marking the first time a manmade object will journey to a metallic asteroid, launched on 13 October 2023, with an expected arrival in 2029.
1998 KY26 is a nearly spherical sub-kilometer asteroid, classified as a near-Earth object of the Apollo group. It measures approximately 30 meters (100 feet) in diameter and is a fast rotator, having a rotational period of only 10.7 minutes. It was first observed on 2 June 1998, by the Spacewatch survey at Kitt Peak National Observatory during 6 days during which it passed 800,000 kilometers (half a million miles) away from Earth (a little more than twice the Earth–Moon distance).
2867 Šteins is an irregular, diamond-shaped background asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 5 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 4 November 1969 by Soviet astronomer Nikolai Chernykh at the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory in Nauchnij on the Crimean peninsula. In September 2008, ESA's spacecraft Rosetta flew by Šteins, making it one of few minor planets ever visited by a spacecraft. The bright E-type asteroid features 23 named craters and has a rotation period of 6.05 hours. It was named for Soviet Latvian astronomer Kārlis Šteins.
216 Kleopatra is a large M-type asteroid with a mean diameter of 120 kilometers and is noted for its elongate bone or dumbbell shape. It was discovered on 10 April 1880 by Austrian astronomer Johann Palisa at the Austrian Naval Pola Observatory, in what is now Pula, Croatia, and was named after Cleopatra, the famous Egyptian queen. It has two small minor-planet moons which were discovered in 2008 and later named Alexhelios and Cleoselene.
66 Maja is a carbonaceous background asteroid from the central regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 71 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 9 April 1861, by American astronomer Horace Tuttle at the Harvard College Observatory in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. The asteroid was named after Maia from Greek mythology.
319 Leona is a dark, carbonaceous asteroid in the outer regions of the asteroid belt. It was discovered on 8 October 1891, by French astronomer Auguste Charlois at Nice Observatory in France. On 12 December 2023, Leona passed in front of the bright star Betelgeuse and occulted it, which caused the star to briefly dim as seen from Central America, Europe, and east Asia. This occultation was expected to reveal the shape of Leona and the surface of Betelgeuse in high detail.
449 Hamburga is a carbonaceous asteroid from the background population of the intermediate asteroid belt, approximately 75 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered by German astronomers Max Wolf and Friedrich Schwassmann at Heidelberg Observatory on 31 October 1899, and later named after the city of Hamburg in Germany.
849 Ara is a large, metallic background asteroid, approximately 80 kilometers in diameter, that is located in the outer region of the asteroid belt. It was discovered on 9 February 1912, by Russian astronomer Sergey Belyavsky at the Simeiz Observatory on the Crimean peninsula. The M-type asteroid has a short rotation period of 4.1 hours and is likely elongated in shape. It was named after the American Relief Administration (ARA) for the help given during the Russian famine of 1921–22.
925 Alphonsina, provisional designation 1920 GM, is a stony Hansian asteroid from the central region of the asteroid belt, approximately 58 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 13 January 1920, by Catalan astronomer Josep Comas i Solà at the Fabra Observatory in Barcelona, Spain. The S-type asteroid has a rotation period of 7.88 hours. It was named for the Spanish Kings Alfonso X and Alfonso XIII.
1313 Berna, provisional designation 1933 QG, is a background asteroid and synchronous binary system from the Eunomian region in the central asteroid belt, approximately 14 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 24 August 1933, by Belgian astronomer Sylvain Arend at the Uccle Observatory in Belgium. The assumed S-type asteroid has a longer-than average rotation period of 25.5 hours and is likely elongated in shape. It was named for the Swiss capital of Bern. The discovery of an 11-kilometer-sized companion was announced in February 2004.
Hayabusa2 is an asteroid sample-return mission operated by the Japanese state space agency JAXA. It is a successor to the Hayabusa mission, which returned asteroid samples for the first time in June 2010. Hayabusa2 was launched on 3 December 2014 and rendezvoused in space with near-Earth asteroid 162173 Ryugu on 27 June 2018. It surveyed the asteroid for a year and a half and took samples. It left the asteroid in November 2019 and returned the samples to Earth on 5 December 2020 UTC. Its mission has now been extended through at least 2031, when it will rendezvous with the small, rapidly-rotating asteroid 1998 KY26.
5176 Yoichi, provisional designation 1989 AU, is a background asteroid from the central regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 17 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 4 January 1989, by Japanese astronomers Seiji Ueda and Hiroshi Kaneda at the Kushiro Observatory on Hokkaido, Japan. The likely elongated asteroid has a brightness variation of 0.45 magnitude, and occulted a star in the constellation Cetus in November 2014. It was named for the Japanese town of Yoichi.
162173 Ryugu (provisional designation 1999 JU3) is a near-Earth object and a potentially hazardous asteroid of the Apollo group. It measures approximately 900 metres (3,000 ft) in diameter and is a dark object of the rare spectral type Cb, with qualities of both a C-type asteroid and a B-type asteroid. In June 2018, the Japanese spacecraft Hayabusa2 arrived at the asteroid. After making measurements and taking samples, Hayabusa2 left Ryugu for Earth in November 2019 and returned the sample capsule to Earth on 5 December 2020. The samples showed the presence of organic compounds, such as uracil (one of the four components in RNA) and vitamin B3.
15094 Polymele is a primitive Jupiter trojan from the Greek camp, approximately 21 kilometers in diameter. It is a target of the Lucy mission with a close flyby planned to occur in September 2027. It was discovered on 17 November 1999, by astronomers with the Catalina Sky Survey at Mount Lemmon Observatory, Arizona, in the United States. The P-type asteroid has a rotation period of 5.9 hours and highly flattened shape. It was named after Polymele from Greek mythology, the wife of Menoetius and the mother of Patroclus. In 2022, it was reported to have a natural satellite approximately 5 kilometers in diameter.
(172034) 2001 WR1, provisional designation: 2001 WR1, is a sub-kilometer near-Earth object of the Amor group, approximately 650 meters (2,100 feet) in diameter. The S-type asteroid has been identified as a potential flyby target of the Hayabusa2 mission. It was discovered on 17 November 2001, by astronomers with the Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research at the Lincoln Laboratory's Experimental Test Site near Socorro, New Mexico, in the United States. The asteroid has a rotation period of 8.0 hours and possibly an elongated shape. It remains unnamed since its numbering in December 2007.
(481394) 2006 SF6 is a sub-kilometer near-Earth object and potentially hazardous asteroid of the Aten group, approximately 300 meters (1,000 feet) in diameter. It was discovered on 17 September 2006, by the Catalina Sky Survey at Catalina Station in Arizona. On 21 November 2019, it passed Earth at a distance of 11 lunar distances (0.0288 AU), which is the object's closest flyby for centuries. The stony A/S-type asteroid is highly elongated in shape and has a rotation period of 11.5 hours.
Dimorphos is a natural satellite or moon of the near-Earth asteroid 65803 Didymos, with which it forms a binary system. The moon was discovered on 20 November 2003 by Petr Pravec in collaboration with other astronomers worldwide. Dimorphos has a diameter of 177 meters (581 ft) across its longest extent and it was the target of the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), a NASA space mission that deliberately collided a spacecraft with the moon on 26 September 2022 to alter its orbit around Didymos. Before the impact by DART, Dimorphos had a shape of an oblate spheroid with a surface covered in boulders but virtually no craters. The moon is thought to have formed when Didymos shed its mass due to its rapid rotation, which formed an orbiting ring of debris that conglomerated into a low-density rubble pile that became Dimorphos today.
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