(16421) Roadrunner
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Asteroid (16421) Roadrunner |
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| Properties of the orbit ( animation ) | |
| Orbit type | Inner main belt asteroid |
| Major semi-axis | 1.9306 AU |
| eccentricity | 0.0638 |
| Perihelion - aphelion | 1.8073 AU - 2.0538 AU |
| Inclination of the orbit plane | 22.8267 ° |
| Length of the ascending node | 309.8079 ° |
| Argument of the periapsis | 234.2776 ° |
| Sidereal period | 2.68 a |
| Physical Properties | |
| Rotation period | 174 h (± 30%) |
| Absolute brightness | 14.4 mag |
| history | |
| Explorer | Eric Walter Elst |
| Date of discovery | January 22, 1988 |
| Another name | 1988 BJ |
| Source: Unless otherwise stated, the data comes from JPL Small-Body Database Browser . The affiliation to an asteroid family is automatically determined from the AstDyS-2 database . Please also note the note on asteroid items. | |
(16421) Roadrunner is an asteroid of the inner main belt , which was discovered by the Belgian astronomer Eric Walter Elst on January 22, 1978 at the Observatoire de Haute-Provence in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence department ( IAU code 511).
The asteroid belongs to the Hungaria group . The 9: 2 orbital resonance with the planet Jupiter is characteristic of this group . The namesake for the Hungaria group is the asteroid (434) Hungaria . The solar orbit of (16421) Roadrunner is strongly inclined at more than 22 ° to the ecliptic of the solar system , another characteristic of Hungaria asteroids.
The extremely long rotation period of 174 hours (± 30%) could indicate that the asteroid could be a so-called tumbler, that is, that it does not rotate around one of its main axes. This is caused either by collisions or by tidal forces after approaching a planet.
(16421) Roadrunner was named on December 28, 2012 after the road cuckoo ( Geococcyx californianus ), whose English name is Greater Roadrunner . The asteroid was named on December 28, 2012.
Web links
- (16421) Roadrunner in the database of the "Asteroids - Dynamic Site" (AstDyS-2, English).
- (16421) Roadrunner in the Small-Body Database of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (English).
- Discovery Circumstances by (16421) Roadrunner according to the Minor Planet Center of the International Astronomical Union at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge , Massachusetts (English)
Individual evidence
- ^ Brian D. Warner: Asteroid Lightcurve Analysis at the Palmer Divide Observatory: 2011 December - 2012 March . Publication in The Minor Planet Bulletin, Vol. 39, No. 3, 2012, page 160 (English)