is a sub-kilometer

asteroid An asteroid is a minor planet—an object larger than a meteoroid that is neither a planet nor an identified comet—that orbits within the Solar System#Inner Solar System, inner Solar System or is co-orbital with Jupiter (Trojan asteroids). As ...

on an eccentric orbit, classified as a

near-Earth object A near-Earth object (NEO) is any small Solar System body orbiting the Sun whose closest approach to the Sun ( perihelion) is less than 1.3 times the Earth–Sun distance (astronomical unit, AU). This definition applies to the object's orbit a ...

and

potentially hazardous asteroid A potentially hazardous object (PHO) is a near-Earth object – either an asteroid or a comet – with an orbit that can make close approaches to the Earth and which is large enough to cause significant regional damage in the event of impact. Th ...

of the

Apollo group Apollo Education Group, Inc. is an American corporation based in the South Phoenix area of Phoenix, Arizona, with an additional corporate office in Chicago, Illinois. It is privately-owned by a consortium of investors including The Vistria Grou ...

, approximately 150 meters in diameter. It was discovered on 26 January 2017, by the

Space Surveillance Telescope The Space Surveillance Telescope (SST) is a Southern Hemisphere-based United States Space Force telescope used for detecting, tracking, and cataloguing satellites, near-Earth objects, and space debris. In 2011, SST achieved first light at the ...

at Lincoln Laboratory's ETS (Atom Site) and passed within 6.6 lunar distances of Earth on 7 February 2017 at 6:36 UT.

Radar imaging

Its closest approach was observed by NASA's

Goldstone Solar System Radar The Goldstone Solar System Radar (GSSR) is a large radar system used for investigating objects in the Solar System, a field called radar astronomy. Located in the desert near Barstow, California, it comprises a 500-kW X-band (8500 MHz) transmitte ...

in California's Mojave Desert, determining it to have a number of angular flat surfaces similar to a

polyhedral die A die (: dice, sometimes also used as ) is a small, throwable object with marked sides that can rest in multiple positions. Dice are used for generating random values, commonly as part of tabletop games, including dice games, board games, rol ...

Orbit

orbits the Sun with a

semi-major axis In geometry, the major axis of an ellipse is its longest diameter: a line segment that runs through the center and both foci, with ends at the two most widely separated points of the perimeter. The semi-major axis (major semiaxis) is the longe ...

of 1.95 AU at a distance of 0.9–3.0 AU once every 2 years and 9 months (992 days). Its orbit has an

eccentricity Eccentricity or eccentric may refer to: * Eccentricity (behavior), odd behavior on the part of a person, as opposed to being "normal" Mathematics, science and technology Mathematics * Off-Centre (geometry), center, in geometry * Eccentricity (g ...

of 0.53 and an

inclination Orbital inclination measures the tilt of an object's orbit around a celestial body. It is expressed as the angle between a reference plane and the orbital plane or axis of direction of the orbiting object. For a satellite orbiting the Eart ...

of 9 ° with respect to the

ecliptic The ecliptic or ecliptic plane is the orbital plane of Earth's orbit, Earth around the Sun. It was a central concept in a number of ancient sciences, providing the framework for key measurements in astronomy, astrology and calendar-making. Fr ...

. It has an Earth

minimum orbital intersection distance Minimum orbit intersection distance (MOID) is a measure used in astronomy to assess potential close approaches and collision risks between astronomical objects. It is defined as the distance between the closest points of the osculating orbits of ...

of , which corresponds to 5.1 lunar distances. 2017BQ6

Physical characteristics

Based on an absolute magnitude of 21.4 and an assumed

albedo Albedo ( ; ) is the fraction of sunlight that is Diffuse reflection, diffusely reflected by a body. It is measured on a scale from 0 (corresponding to a black body that absorbs all incident radiation) to 1 (corresponding to a body that reflects ...

for stony

S-type asteroid S-type (stony-type or silicaceous-type) asteroids are asteroids with a spectral type that is indicative of a siliceous (i.e. stony) mineralogical composition, hence the name. They have relatively high density. Approximately 17% of asteroids are ...

s of 0.20, measures 156 meters in diameter. The body has a

rotation period In astronomy, the rotation period or spin period of a celestial object (e.g., star, planet, moon, asteroid) has two definitions. The first one corresponds to the '' sidereal rotation period'' (or ''sidereal day''), i.e., the time that the objec ...

of 2.15 hours and a brightness amplitude of 0.38 magnitude ().

References

External links

Meet Asteroid 2017 BQ6 — A Giant, Spinning Brick
12 Feb, 2017 by Bob King
Asteroid Resembles Dungeons and Dragons Dice
February 10, 2017

* ttp://www.minorplanetcenter.net/iau/Dangerous.html List Of The Potentially Hazardous Asteroids (PHAs)
Asteroid Detection with the Space Surveillance Telescope
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:2017 BQ6 # Minor planet object articles (unnumbered) # # 20170207 20170126