Discovery | |
---|---|
Discovered by | Pan-STARRS 1 |
Discovery date | 14 April 2012 |
Designations | |
2012 GX17 | |
Orbital characteristics | |
Epoch 31 May 2020 ( JD 2459000.5) | |
Uncertainty parameter 1 | |
Observation arc | 2930 days (8.02 yr) |
Aphelion | 57.826 AU (8.6506 Tm) |
Perihelion | 16.9434206 AU (2.53469964 Tm) |
37.3849220 AU (5.59270473 Tm) | |
Eccentricity | 0.5467846 |
228.59 yr (83491.6 d) | |
49.28874 ° | |
0° 0m 15.523s / day | |
Inclination | 32.53975° |
209.23931° | |
243.62742° | |
Earth MOID | 16.0869 AU (2.40657 Tm) |
Jupiter MOID | 12.6178 AU (1.88760 Tm) |
Physical characteristics | |
Dimensions | 60–200 km |
0.5–0.05 (assumed) | |
7.6 | |
2012 GX17, also written as 2012 GX17, is a minor body classified as Centaur and Trans-Neptunian object by the Minor Planet Center. [1] The object was once considered a promising Neptune L5 trojan candidate. [2]
2012 GX17 was discovered on 14 April 2012 by the Pan-STARRS 1 telescope, observing from Haleakala, Hawaii. [1]
2012 GX17 follows a rather eccentric orbit (0.55) with a semi-major axis of 37.4 AU. [3] This object also has high orbital inclination (32.5º). [3]
2012 GX17 is a rather large minor body with an absolute magnitude of 7.6 which gives a characteristic diameter of 60–200 km for an assumed albedo in the range 0.5–0.05.
Initially, 2012 GX17 was considered to be a promising Neptune trojan candidate, [2] based on a very preliminary determination of 30.13 AU for its semi-major axis. However, the true value is much larger (37.4 AU) and it is now classified as a Trans-Neptunian object.