2001 QW 322

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2001 QW 322 is a double asteroid in the Kuiper belt and consists of two bodies of almost identical mass, the diameter of which is estimated to be around 130 km each. The object was discovered on July 27, 2001 by John J. Kavelaars, Jean-Marc Petit, Brett Gladman and Matthew J. Holman at the Mauna Kea Observatory . On August 24, 2001 it was determined by Kavelaars that it was a double asteroid.

A study published in 2008 revealed an extraordinarily long orbital period around the common barycenter of about 25 to 30 years for such a double asteroid system and a major semi-axis of 105,000 to 135,000 km. The orbit is retrograde and has an inclination of 50 ° to 62 °; the eccentricity of the track is also below 0.4. Such orbital parameters are very unusual and represent a challenge for previous theories on the origin and development of double asteroids. Since the gravitational bond is weak in this configuration, the lifespan in this state is probably less than a billion years.

literature

  • Petit et al .: The Extreme Kuiper Belt Binary 2001 QW 322 . In: Science . Volume 322, No. 5900, 2008, pp. 432-434
  • Parker et al .: Characterization of seven ultra-wide trans-Neptunian binaries. In: The Astrophysical Journal . Volume 743, No. 1, 2011