2019 VL5
Near-Earth asteroid
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
2019 VL5 is a tiny asteroid, classified as a near-Earth object of the Aten group moving in a 1:1 mean-motion resonance with Earth. Because of that, it is in a co-orbital configuration relative to Earth. 2019 VL5 is currently in a horseshoe orbit: relative to the Sun and Earth, it moves back and forth in a horseshoe shape around Earth's orbit, with Earth in the gap of the horseshoe. According to orbital calculations, the asteroid was an Earth co-orbital for at least 500 years and will stay one for at least another 2,500 years. During this time, it will remain in this horseshoe orbit for at least 800 years, then it will transfer to a quasi-satellite orbit, then back to a horseshoe orbit after a few decades.[2]
| Discovery | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | LINEAR |
| Discovery date | 9 November 2019 |
| Designations | |
| Orbital characteristics[1] | |
| Epoch 17 October 2024 (JD 2460600.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 0 | |
| Observation arc | 1827 days (5.00 years) |
| Aphelion | 1.277788 AU (191.1544 Gm) |
| Perihelion | 0.720270 AU (107.7509 Gm) |
| 0.999029 AU (149.4526 Gm) | |
| Eccentricity | 0.279030 |
| 0.9986 yr (364.72 d) | |
| 260.08477° | |
| 0.98705°/day | |
| Inclination | 1.73671° |
| 279.28599° | |
| 237.69006° | |
| Earth MOID | 0.00700361 AU (1,047,725 km) |
| Physical characteristics | |
| 30 m | |
| 25.86[1] | |
China planned to launch an asteroid deflection probe targeting 2019 VL5 in 2025,[3] but later changed the target to 2015 XF261.[4]
