Critical-list minor planet

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A critical-list minor planet (critical list numbered object or critical object) is a numbered minor planet for which existing measurements of the orbit and position are especially in need of improvement. [1]

Contents

The IAU's Minor Planet Center (MPC) regularly publishes a list of these critical objects in their Minor Planet Electronic Circular . [2] The list typically contains asteroids that have been observed at a small number of apparitions, especially on opposition, or that have not been adequately observed for more than 10 years, while other observatories create their own, customized lists. [3] The MPC also lists currently observable critical objects on their website, [4] providing differently formatted lists of orbital elements to the worldwide astrometric community. [5]

Lowell Observatory publishes their own critical list, distinctly different from the MPC, instead focusing on objects with high ephemeris uncertainty. Specifically, objects with computed ephemeris uncertainty greater than 2 arcseconds over the next 10 years, and objects whose orbits degrade significantly when temporally isolated observations are ignored, are included in the list. [3]

List

As of August 2023, the MPC includes 1,494 objects in their critical list. This list contains all critical objects within the first 50,000 numbered minor planets: [6]

See also

Related Research Articles

The Minor Planet Center (MPC) is the official body for observing and reporting on minor planets under the auspices of the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Founded in 1947, it operates at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory.

(119070) 2001 KP77 (provisional designation 2001 KP77) is a resonant trans-Neptunian object in the Kuiper belt, a circumstellar disc located in the outermost region of the Solar System. It was discovered on 23 May 2001, by American astronomer Marc Buie at the Cerro Tololo Observatory in Chile. The object is locked in a 4:7 orbital resonance with Neptune. It has a red surface color and measures approximately 176 kilometers (110 miles) in diameter. As of 2021, it has not been named.

(118228) 1996 TQ66 (provisional designation 1996 TQ66) is a resonant trans-Neptunian object of the plutino population in the Kuiper belt, located in the outermost region of the Solar System. It was discovered on 8 October 1996, by American astronomers Jun Chen, David Jewitt, Chad Trujillo, and Jane Luu, using the UH88 telescope at the Mauna Kea Observatories, Hawaii. The very red object measures approximately 185 kilometers (110 miles) in diameter. As of 2021, it has not been named.

(118378) 1999 HT11 (provisional designation 1999 HT11) is a trans-Neptunian object from the outermost region of the Solar System, locked in a 4:7 orbital resonance with Neptune. It was discovered on 17 April 1999, by astronomers at the Kitt Peak Observatory, Arizona, in the United States. The very red object measures approximately 134 kilometers (83 miles) in diameter. As of 2021, it has not been named.

(523731) 2014 OK394 (provisional designation 1995 SN55) is a trans-Neptunian object that orbits in the outer Solar System beyond the orbit of Neptune. First observed as 1995 SN55 by Spacewatch on 20 September 1995, it was a lost minor planet with an insufficiently defined orbit with only 36 days of observations. On 8 October 2010, it was rediscovered by the Pan-STARRS 1 survey and later announced as 2014 OK394 in July 2016. It was not until November 2020 when amateur astronomers S. Deen and K. Ly identified 2014 OK394 and 1995 SN55 as the same object. This identification was confirmed and announced by the Minor Planet Center in January 2021.

(523639) 2010 RE64 (provisional designation 2010 RE64) is a trans-Neptunian object in the scattered disc located in the outermost region of the Solar System, approximately 570 kilometers (350 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 11 July 2010 by the Pan-STARRS-1 survey at the Haleakala Observatory, Hawaii, in the United States.

(589683) 2010 RF43 (provisional designation 2010 RF43) is a large trans-Neptunian object orbiting in the scattered disc in the outermost regions of the Solar System. The object was discovered on 9 September 2010, by American astronomers David Rabinowitz, Megan Schwamb and Suzanne Tourtellotte at ESO's La Silla Observatory in northern Chile.

(523671) 2013 FZ27 (provisional designation 2013 FZ27) is a trans-Neptunian object located in the Kuiper belt in the outermost region of the Solar System, approximately 570 kilometers (350 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 16 March 2013, by American astronomers Scott Sheppard and Chad Trujillo at the CTIO in Chile. Numbered in 2018, this minor planet has not been named.

<span class="nowrap">(523794) 2015 RR<sub>245</sub></span>

(523794) 2015 RR245, provisional designation 2015 RR245, is a large trans-Neptunian object of the Kuiper belt in the outermost regions of the Solar System. It was discovered on 9 September 2015, by the Outer Solar System Origins Survey at Mauna Kea Observatories on the Big island of Hawaii, in the United States. The object is in a rare 2:9 resonance with Neptune and measures approximately 600 kilometers in diameter. 2015 RR245 was suspected to have a satellite according to a study announced by Noyelles et al. in a European Planetary Science Congress meeting in 2019.

<span class="nowrap">2015 KG<sub>163</sub></span> Extreme trans-Neptunian object

2015 KG163, also known as o5m52, is a trans-Neptunian object from the outermost region of the Solar System, approximately 102 kilometers (63 miles) in diameter. It was first observed on 24 May 2015, by astronomers of the Outer Solar System Origins Survey using the Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope at Mauna Kea Observatories, Hawaii, United States. With an observation arc of 2 years, it passed perihelion around August 2022 at a velocity of 6.5 km/s with respect to the Sun.

(585310) 2017 YZ1, provisional designation: 2017 YZ1, is a sub-kilometer asteroid on an eccentric orbit, classified as near-Earth object and potentially hazardous asteroid of the Apollo group, approximately 250 meters (800 feet) in diameter. It was first observed on 20 December 2017, by astronomers with the Mount Lemmon Survey at Mount Lemmon Observatory near Tucson, Arizona, in the United States. On 29 January 2018, it passed Earth at 125 lunar distances.

(501581) 2014 OB394, provisional designation 2014 OB394, is a trans-Neptunian object from the outermost region of the Solar System, approximately 260 kilometers (160 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 25 August 2012, by astronomers with the Pan-STARRS survey at Haleakala Observatory, Hawaii, United States. The weak dwarf planet candidate was numbered in 2017 and remains without a name.

(501546) 2014 JJ80, prov. designation:2014 JJ80, is a trans-Neptunian object from the outermost region of the Solar System. It was discovered on 9 July 2013, by astronomers with the Pan-STARRS survey at Haleakala Observatory, Hawaii, United States. It is a dwarf planet candidate, as it measures approximately 350 kilometers (220 miles) in diameter.

(523706) 2014 HF200 (provisional designation 2014 HF200) is a trans-Neptunian object on an eccentric orbit from the scattered disc, located in the outermost region of the Solar System. It was discovered on 20 May 2012, by astronomers with the Pan-STARRS survey at Haleakala Observatory, Hawaii, United States. The dwarf planet candidate measures approximately 300 kilometers (190 miles) in diameter.

(523702) 2014 HW199 (provisional designation 2014 HW199) is a trans-Neptunian object from the classical Kuiper belt, located in the outermost region of the Solar System. It was discovered on 30 January 2011, by astronomers with the Pan-STARRS survey at Haleakala Observatory, Hawaii, United States. The classical Kuiper belt object is also a dwarf planet candidate, as it measures approximately 290 kilometers (180 miles) in diameter.

(523683) 2014 CP23 (provisional designation 2014 CP23) is a trans-Neptunian object from the scattered disc located in the outermost region of the Solar System It was discovered on 29 October 2011, by astronomers with the Pan-STARRS survey at Haleakala Observatory, Hawaii, United States. The dwarf planet candidate measures approximately 267 kilometers (170 miles) in diameter.

(495603) 2015 AM281 (provisional designation 2015 AM281) is a resonant trans-Neptunian object in the outermost region of the Solar System, guesstimated at approximately 470 kilometers (290 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 13 March 2010, by astronomers with the Pan-STARRS survey at Haleakala Observatory, Hawaii, United States.

(505624) 2014 GU53 (provisional designation 2014 GU53) is a trans-Neptunian object and cubewano from the Kuiper belt, located in the outermost region of the Solar System. It was discovered on 8 April 2014, by astronomers with the Pan-STARRS survey at Haleakala Observatory, Hawaii, United States. The classical Kuiper belt object belongs to the hot population and is a dwarf planet candidate, as it measures approximately 330 kilometers (210 miles) in diameter.

2015 DR215 is a stony near-Earth asteroid of the Atira class residing within Earth's orbit. It was discovered on 18 February 2015 by the Pan-STARRS 1 survey at Haleakalā Observatory at Maui, Hawaiʻi. The asteroid has a diameter of about 200 m (660 ft) and makes close approaches within 0.05 AU (7.5 million km; 4.6 million mi) of Earth, making it a potentially hazardous object. On 11 March 2022, it made a close approach 0.045 AU (6.7 million km; 4.2 million mi) from Earth, reaching a peak apparent magnitude of 17 as it streaked across the southern sky.

<span class="nowrap">2022 UQ<sub>1</sub></span> Mistakenly-given minor planet designation

2022 UQ1 was a minor planet provisional designation that was mistakenly given to the Lucy mission's Centaur upper stage booster during its Earth gravity assist flyby in October 2022. The object passed about 9,100 km (5,700 mi) from the center of Earth (or an altitude of 2,700 km (1,700 mi) above the surface of Earth) during its closest approach on 16 October 2022.

References

  1. ↑ Monet, A. K. B. (December 1994). "CCD Astrometry of "Critical List" Minor Planets". American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts. 185: 43.11. Bibcode:1994AAS...185.4311M.
  2. ↑ "Minor Planet Electronic Circulars – Sample MPECs". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 4 July 2020.
  3. 1 2 "Critical Lists of Asteroids". Lowell Observatory. Retrieved 29 November 2023.
  4. ↑ "Observable Critical-List Minor Planets". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 4 July 2020.
  5. ↑ "Orbital Elements: Critical-List Minor Planets". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 4 July 2020.
  6. ↑ "Data Available from the Minor Planet Center – MPCORB.DAT". Minor Planet Center. 26 June 2020. Retrieved 15 August 2023. (doc)
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