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1620 Geographos

1620 Geographos
1620Geographos (Lightcurve Inversion).png
A three-dimensional model of 1620 Geographos based on its light curve
Discovery
Discovered by Albert George Wilson, Rudolph Minkowski
Discovery date 14 September 1951
Designations
MPC designation (1620) Geographos
Named after
National Geographic Society
1951 RA
Apollo, PHA,Mars-crosser
Orbital characteristics
Epoch 13 January 2016 (JD 2457400.5)
Uncertainty parameter 0
Observation arc 23558 days (64.50 yr)
Aphelion 1.6630 AU (248.78 Gm)
Perihelion 0.82764 AU (123.813 Gm)
1.2453 AU (186.29 Gm)
Eccentricity 0.33541
1.39 yr (507.61 d)
Average orbital speed
25.92 km/s
180.473°
0.70920°/day
Inclination 13.338°
337.216°
276.879°
Earth MOID 0.029311 AU (4.3849 Gm)
Jupiter MOID 3.45265 AU (516.509 Gm)
Physical characteristics
Dimensions 5.0×2.0×2.1 ± 0.15km
Mean radius
1.28 ± 0.075 km
5.22204 h (0.217585 d)
0.3258 ± 0.051
Temperature ~249 K
S
15.60

The asteroid 1620 Geographos /ˈɡræfɒs/ was discovered on September 14, 1951, at the Palomar Observatory by Albert George Wilson and Rudolph Minkowski. It was originally given the provisional designation 1951 RA. Its name, a Greek word meaning "geographer" (geo– 'Earth' + graphos 'drawer/writer'), was chosen to honour geographers and the National Geographic Society.

Geographos is a Mars-crosser asteroid and a near-Earth object belonging to the Apollos. In 1994, during the asteroid's closest approach to Earth in two centuries at 5.0 Gm-which will not be bettered until 2586- a radar study of it was conducted by the Deep Space Network at Goldstone, California. The resultant images show Geographos to be the most elongated object in the solar system; it measures 5.1×1.8 km.

Geographos is an S-type asteroid, meaning that it is highly reflective and composed of nickel-iron mixed with iron- and magnesium-silicates.

Geographos was to be explored by the U.S.'s Clementine mission; however, a malfunctioning thruster ended the mission before it could approach the asteroid.


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Wikipedia

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