(706765) 2010 TK7

(706765) 2010 TK7
Asteroid 2010 TK7 (circled in green) in image from the WISE spacecraft
Discovery[1]
Discovered byWISE spacecraft
Discovery siteLEO, polar orbit
Discovery date1 October 2010
Designations
2010 TK7
Orbital characteristics[2]
Epoch 13 January 2016 (JD 2457400.5)
Uncertainty parameter 0
Observation arc768 days (2.10 yr)
Aphelion1.1903 AU (178.07 Gm)
Perihelion0.80918 AU (121.052 Gm)
0.99972 AU (149.556 Gm)
Eccentricity0.19059
1.00 yr (365.10 d)
29.8 km/s[a]
354.14°
0° 59m 9.672s / day
Inclination20.890°
96.498°
45.927°
Earth MOID0.0837911 AU (12.53497 Gm)
Physical characteristics
379±123 m[2]
0.059±0.049[2]
20.8 (when near Earth) to 23.6
20.8[2]

(706765) 2010 TK7 (provisional designation 2010 TK7) is a sub-kilometer Near-Earth asteroid and the first Earth trojan discovered; it precedes Earth in its orbit around the Sun.[4][5] Trojan objects are most easily conceived as orbiting at a Lagrangian point, a dynamically stable location (where the combined gravitational force acts through the Sun's and Earth's barycenter) 60 degrees ahead of or behind a massive orbiting body, in a type of 1:1 orbital resonance. In reality, they oscillate around such a point. Such objects had previously been observed in the orbits of Mars, Jupiter, Neptune, and the Saturnian moons Tethys and Dione.

2010 TK7 has a diameter of about 300 meters (1,000 ft).[6] Its path oscillates about the Sun–Earth L4 Lagrangian point (60 degrees ahead of Earth), shuttling between its closest approach to Earth and its closest approach to the L3 point (180 degrees from Earth).

The asteroid was discovered in October 2010 by the NEOWISE team of astronomers using NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE).[7]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference mpc was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b c d e Cite error: The named reference jpldata was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ WayBack Machine 2013 Epoch@MPC
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference Connors was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference WISE was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference Choi was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference MPEC-2010-T45 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).


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