(3552) Don Quixote
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Asteroid (3552) Don Quixote |
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| Don Quixote near the point of its orbit closest to the sun in 2009 | |
| Properties of the orbit ( animation ) | |
| Orbit type | Cupid type |
| Major semi-axis | 4.25 AU |
| eccentricity | 0.71 |
| Perihelion - aphelion | 1.23 AU - 7.27 AU |
| Inclination of the orbit plane | 31.2 ° |
| Length of the ascending node | 350 ° |
| Argument of the periapsis | 317 ° |
| Sidereal period | 8.76 a |
| Mean orbital velocity | 14.5 km / s |
| Physical Properties | |
| Medium diameter | 18.4 km |
| Albedo | 0.03 |
| Rotation period | 7.7 h |
| Absolute brightness | 12.9 mag |
| Spectral class | D. |
| history | |
| Explorer | Paul Wild |
| Date of discovery | September 26, 1983 |
| Another name | 1983 SA |
| 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. | |
(3552) Don Quixote is a comet , originally for asteroids of the Amor type was held when he on 26 September 1983 by Paul Wild at the European Southern Observatory in La Silla was discovered. The celestial object was named after the fabulous character Don Quixote (in the original Middle Spanish spelling).
Don Quixote's orbit is strongly inclined towards the ecliptic and, atypical for asteroids, more characteristic of the orbit of a comet . Its low albedo and classification as a D-type asteroid are also typical of the nucleus of a comet. It was therefore assumed that Don Quixote is the nucleus of an extinct comet, but initially classified it as an asteroid.
In the meantime, observations of the Spitzer space telescope in infrared light (4.5 μm) during a passage through the sun in 2009, evaluated only in 2013, have shown that Don Quixote is still showing activity - at least in the vicinity of the sun. Since both a coma and a tail were detected, which is triggered by the sublimation of CO 2 ice and the subsequent excitation of the corresponding emission bands , it is now clear that it is a comet.
It is unclear, however, whether the activity is persistent or just a brief eruption, triggered by the recent impact of a smaller body that exposed sub- surface CO 2 ice.
Don Quixote is one of the 8,000 previously known objects (significant taller than 140 meters, as of early 2018), the Earth's orbit - calculated in astronomical dimensions - come very close ( near earth objects ), or they can even cross and therefore are under observation whose smallest part (less than 5%) is formed by comets.
Web links
- DLR press release: Asteroid Don Quixote "exposed" as comet
- (3552) Don Quixote in the Small-Body Database of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c M. Mommert, JL Hora, AW Harris, WT Reach, JP Emery et al .: The Discovery of Cometary Activity in Near-Earth Asteroid (3552) Don Quixote . In: Astrophysical Journal . No. 781, January 2014, p. 25. bibcode : 2014ApJ ... 781 ... 25M .
- ↑ Frankfurter Allgemeine from September 22, 2013