3753 Cruithne
Aten asteroid and a co-orbital object with Earth / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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3753 Cruithne is a Q-type, Aten asteroid in orbit around the Sun in 1:1 orbital resonance with Earth, making it a co-orbital object. It is an asteroid that, relative to Earth, orbits the Sun in a bean-shaped orbit that effectively describes a horseshoe, and that can change into a quasi-satellite orbit.[4] Cruithne does not orbit Earth and at times it is on the other side of the Sun,[5] placing Cruithne well outside of Earth's Hill sphere. Its orbit takes it near the orbit of Mercury and outside the orbit of Mars.[5] Cruithne orbits the Sun in about one Earth year, but it takes 770 years for the series to complete a horseshoe-shaped movement around Earth.[5]
Discovery | |
---|---|
Discovered by | Duncan Waldron |
Discovery date | 10 October 1986 |
Designations | |
(3753) Cruithne | |
Pronunciation | English: /kruˈiːnjə/ kroo-EEN-yə[1] Irish: [ˈkɾˠɪ(h)nʲə, ˈkɾˠʊnʲə] |
Named after | Cruthin |
1983 UH; 1986 TO | |
Orbital characteristics[2] | |
Epoch 4 September 2017 (JD 2458000.5) | |
Uncertainty parameter 0 | |
Observation arc | 16087 days (44.04 yr) |
Aphelion | 1.5114 AU (226,100,000 km) |
Perihelion | 0.48405 AU (72,413,000 km) |
0.99774 AU (149,260,000 km) | |
Eccentricity | 0.51485 (213000 wrt Earth)[3] |
1.00 yr (364.02 d) | |
Average orbital speed | 27.73 km/s |
257.46° | |
0° 59m 20.436s / day | |
Inclination | 19.805° |
126.23° | |
43.831° | |
Earth MOID | 0.07119 AU (10,650,000 km) |
Physical characteristics | |
Mean diameter | ~5 km |
Mass | 1.3×1014 kg |
27.30990 h (1.137913 d)[2] | |
0.15 | |
Q | |
15.6[2] | |
The name Cruithne is from Irish and refers to the early Picts (Old Irish: Cruthin) in the Annals of Ulster[5] and their eponymous king ("Cruidne, son of Cinge") in the Pictish Chronicle.