(132524) APL

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Asteroid
(132524) APL
Two images of the asteroid from June 11th and 12th, 2006
Properties of the orbit ( animation )
Orbit type Main belt asteroid
Major semi-axis 2.606  AU
eccentricity 0.272
Perihelion - aphelion 1.898 AU - 3.313 AU
Inclination of the orbit plane 4.164 °
Sidereal period 4 a 75 d
Mean orbital velocity 18.452 km / s
Physical Properties
Medium diameter ~ 2.5 km
Absolute brightness 15.06 mag
Spectral class S type
history
Explorer LINEAR
Date of discovery May 9, 2002
Another name 2002 JF56
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.

(132524) APL (previously known under the provisional designation 2002 JF 56 ) is a small asteroid about 2.5 km in diameter. It was discovered on May 9th, 2002 by the LINEAR sky surveillance in New Mexico , USA .

The New Horizons spacecraft flew past the asteroid at a distance of 101,867 km on its way to the dwarf planet Pluto on June 13, 2006 at 4:05  UTC . The two "points" in the adjacent picture are photos of the asteroid that were taken on June 11 (below, from a distance of 3.36 million kilometers) and on June 12, 2006 (above, from a distance of 1.34 million kilometers) were picked up by the spacecraft.

At the suggestion of Dr. Alan Stern , head of the New Horizons project, in March 2007 the IAU named the asteroid after the “Applied Physics Lab” (APL) at Johns Hopkins University .

See also

swell

  1. http://smass.mit.edu/2002jf56.html