2015 XX₁₆₉ (also written 2015 XX169) is an Apollo asteroid that is a temporary horseshoe companion to the Earth, the tenth known Earth horseshoe librator.^[5] A close encounter with the Earth on 14 December 2015 caused the value of the semi-major axis of 2015 XX₁₆₉ to drift slowly upwards, and the object evolved from an Aten asteroid to an Apollo asteroid about a year after this close approach.

Discovery

2015 XX₁₆₉ was discovered on 9 December 2015 by R. G. Matheny observing with the 1.5-m reflector telescope at the Mount Lemmon Survey.^[6] As of 6 December 2016, it has been observed 47 times with an observation arc of 363 days.^[2]

Orbit and orbital evolution

2015 XX₁₆₉ is currently an Apollo asteroid (Earth-crossing but with a period greater than a year). Its semi-major axis (currently 1.00096 AU) is similar to that of Earth (1.00074 AU), but it has a relatively low eccentricity (0.18431) and moderate orbital inclination (7.640°). It alternates between being an Apollo asteroid and being an Aten asteroid, changing dynamical status approximately every 130 years. As of 9 March 2016, this object is the 15th known Earth co-orbital and the 10th known object following a horseshoe path with respect to our planet. Asteroid 2015 XX₁₆₉ follows an asymmetrical horseshoe path with respect to our planet; the value of its relative mean longitude oscillates about 180°, but enclosing 0°.^[5]

Physical properties

With an absolute magnitude of 27.4, it has a diameter in the range of 9–22 meters (for an assumed albedo range of 0.20–0.04, respectively).

See also

• 54509 YORP
• (419624) 2010 SO16
• 3753 Cruithne
• 2015 SO2
• 2015 YA
• 2015 YQ1

Notes

References

Further reading

• Understanding the Distribution of Near-Earth Asteroids Bottke, W. F., Jedicke, R., Morbidelli, A., Petit, J.-M., Gladman, B. 2000, Science, Vol. 288, Issue 5474, pp. 2190–2194.
• A Numerical Survey of Transient Co-orbitals of the Terrestrial Planets Christou, A. A. 2000, Icarus, Vol. 144, Issue 1, pp. 1–20.
• Debiased Orbital and Absolute Magnitude Distribution of the Near-Earth Objects Bottke, W. F., Morbidelli, A., Jedicke, R., Petit, J.-M., Levison, H. F., Michel, P., Metcalfe, T. S. 2002, Icarus, Vol. 156, Issue 2, pp. 399–433.
• Transient co-orbital asteroids Brasser, R., Innanen, K. A., Connors, M., Veillet, C., Wiegert, P., Mikkola, S., Chodas, P. W. 2004, Icarus, Vol. 171, Issue 1, pp. 102–109.
• A trio of horseshoes: past, present and future dynamical evolution of Earth co-orbital asteroids 2015 XX₁₆₉, 2015 YA and 2015 YQ₁ de la Fuente Marcos, C., de la Fuente Marcos, R. 2016, Astrophysics and Space Science, Vol. 361, Issue 4, article 121 (13 pp.)

External links

• Discovery MPEC
• 2015 XX₁₆₉ data at MPC
• ADS MPEC record
• Sciency Thoughts blog entry
• 2015 XX169 at NeoDyS-2, Near Earth Objects—Dynamic Site
  • Ephemerides · Observation prediction · Orbital info · MOID · Proper elements · Observational info · Close approaches · Physical info · Orbit animation
• 2015 XX169 at ESA–space situational awareness
  • Ephemerides · Observations · Orbit · Physical properties · Summary
• 2015 XX169 at the JPL Small-Body Database