(4015) Wilson-Harrington
Asteroid (4015) Wilson-Harrington |
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Properties of the orbit ( animation ) | |
Orbit type | Apollo type |
Major semi-axis | 2.6382 AU |
eccentricity | 0.6237 |
Perihelion - aphelion | 0.9927 AU - 4.2826 AU |
Inclination of the orbit plane | 2.785 ° |
Sidereal period | 4,285 a |
Mean orbital velocity | 18.34 km / s |
Physical Properties | |
Medium diameter | 2 km |
Albedo | 0.05 |
Rotation period | 3.556 h |
Absolute brightness | 15,703 likes |
Spectral class | CF |
history | |
Explorer | Eleanor F. Helin |
Date of discovery | November 15, 1979 |
Another name | 1979 VA |
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. |
(4015) Wilson-Harrington is a near-earth asteroid (group of near-earth objects ), which was rediscovered on November 15, 1979 by Eleanor F. Helin at the Mount Palomar Observatory.
The asteroid is named after the two American astronomers and joint discoverers Albert George Wilson and Robert G. Harrington . They had already discovered the celestial body 30 years earlier, on November 19, 1949, also at Mount Palomar, but the few images were not enough to allow a sufficiently precise determination of the orbit parameters, and so the asteroid was lost again. At that time recordings are indications pointed to a meteoric nature of the celestial body, which is why as a periodic comet the designation 107P / Wilson-Harrington received.
No further signs of a comet could be found on more recent images that have been taken since Helin's rediscovery. It is therefore suspected that this is an extinct, inactive cometary nucleus that only shows occasional eruptions. The eccentricity of the orbit, which is very large at 0.624 for an asteroid, is also more typical of a periodic comet.
The Deep Space 1 mission called for a close flyby; the encounter could not take place due to technical difficulties.
See also
Web links
- (4015) Wilson-Harrington in the Small-Body Database of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory .