2017 VW13
Near-Earth asteroid
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2017 VW13 is an Apollo near-Earth asteroid roughly 250 meters (820 feet) in diameter. It was discovered on 13 November 2017 when the asteroid was about 0.069 AU (10,300,000 km; 6,400,000 mi) from Earth and had a solar elongation of 110 degrees. Ten days earlier, on 3 November 2017, the asteroid had passed 0.02818 AU (4,216,000 km; 2,619,000 mi) from Earth,[2] but only had a solar elongation of 65 degrees.
| Discovery[1] | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | ATLAS-MLO |
| Discovery date | 13 November 2017 |
| Designations | |
| 2017 VW13 | |
| Orbital characteristics[2] | |
| Epoch 23 March 2018 (JD 2458200.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 4 | |
| Observation arc | 118 days |
| Aphelion | 3.3707 AU (Q) |
| Perihelion | 0.96118 AU (q) |
| 2.1659 AU (a) | |
| Eccentricity | 0.556231 |
| 3.19 yr | |
| 47.813° (M) | |
| Inclination | 11.4909° |
| 45.705° (Ω) | |
| 337.12° (ω) | |
| Earth MOID | 0.002 AU (300,000 km) |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Dimensions | ~250 m (820 ft) (assumed)[a] |
| 20.7[2] | |
2001 Earth approach
Calculating the orbit backwards it is known that the asteroid made a close approach to Earth on 8 November 2001.[2] The nominal (best-fit) solution shows that the asteroid passed about 0.001 AU (150,000 km; 93,000 mi) from Earth. But due to the uncertainties in the trajectory, the asteroid could have passed as far as 0.008 AU (1,200,000 km; 740,000 mi) from Earth. The observation arc is only 118 days, but as the observation arc becomes longer the precise distance of the 2001 approach will become better constrained.
Notes
- Diameter estimate based on an absolute magnitude (H) of 20.7 and an assumed albedo of 0.15.