is a tiny

asteroid An asteroid is a minor planet of the Solar System#Inner solar system, inner Solar System. Sizes and shapes of asteroids vary significantly, ranging from 1-meter rocks to a dwarf planet almost 1000 km in diameter; they are rocky, metallic o ...

, classified as a

near-Earth object A near-Earth object (NEO) is any small Solar System body whose orbit brings it into proximity with Earth. By convention, a Solar System body is a NEO if its closest approach to the Sun (perihelion) is less than 1.3 astronomical units (AU) ...

of the Aten group moving in a 1:1

mean-motion resonance In celestial mechanics, orbital resonance occurs when orbiting bodies exert regular, periodic gravitational influence on each other, usually because their orbital periods are related by a ratio of small integers. Most commonly, this relations ...

with

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surf ...

. Because of that, it is in a

co-orbital configuration In astronomy, a co-orbital configuration is a configuration of two or more astronomical objects (such as asteroids, moons, or planets) orbiting at the same, or very similar, distance from their primary, i.e. they are in a 1:1 mean-motion resonance ...

relative to Earth.

Discovery, orbit and physical properties

was discovered by the Lincoln Near Earth Asteroid Research (LINEAR) system in orbit around the

Sun The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect ball of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core. The Sun radiates this energy mainly as light, ultraviolet, and infrared rad ...

on 20 December 2003. Its diameter is approximately 10 to 30 metres. The object is on

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeedi ...

's Earth Close Approach list, and is estimated to miss Earth by 0.01 AU. It revolves around the Sun on an Earth-like, almost circular, orbit. Its

orbital period The orbital period (also revolution period) is the amount of time a given astronomical object takes to complete one orbit around another object. In astronomy, it usually applies to planets or asteroids orbiting the Sun, moons orbiting planets ...

of 363.846

day A day is the time period of a full rotation of the Earth with respect to the Sun. On average, this is 24 hours, 1440 minutes, or 86,400 seconds. In everyday life, the word "day" often refers to a solar day, which is the length between two s ...

s also is very close to the

sidereal year A sidereal year (, ; ), also called a sidereal orbital period, is the time that Earth or another planetary body takes to orbit the Sun once with respect to the fixed stars. Hence, for Earth, it is also the time taken for the Sun to return to t ...

Co-orbital with Earth and orbital evolution

From approximately 1997 to 2006, the asteroid remained within of Earth and it appeared to slowly orbit

. However, is no second

moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width ...

, as it is not bound to Earth. It is the first discovered member of a postulated group of coorbital objects, or

quasi-satellite A quasi-satellite is an object in a specific type of co-orbital configuration (1:1 orbital resonance) with a planet (or dwarf planet) where the object stays close to that planet over many orbital periods. A quasi-satellite's orbit around the Su ...

s, which show these path characteristics. Other members of this group include 10563 Izhdubar,

54509 YORP 54509 YORP, provisional designation , is an Earth co-orbital asteroid discovered on 3 August 2000 by the Lincoln Laboratory Near-Earth Asteroid Research (LINEAR) Team at Lincoln Laboratory Experimental Test Site in Socorro, New Mexico. Measure ...

, , , and . Before 1996, the asteroid had been on a so-called

horseshoe orbit In celestial mechanics, a horseshoe orbit is a type of co-orbital motion of a small orbiting body relative to a larger orbiting body. The osculating (instantaneous) orbital period of the smaller body remains very near that of the larger body, a ...

around the Sun, along the Earth's orbit. After 2006, it had regained such an orbit. This makes it very similar to , which will become a quasi-satellite of Earth in approximately 600 years.

References

External links

MPEC 2003-Y76 : 2003 YN107
(Discovery MPEC)

Tony Phillips, Science@NASA, 9 June 2006.
Horseshoe asteroids and quasi-satellites in Earth-like orbits
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:2003 YN107 # # Minor planet object articles (unnumbered) 20031220

Discovery, orbit and physical properties

Co-orbital with Earth and orbital evolution

See also

References

External links