2007 WD5
| Discovery | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by |
Mount Lemmon Survey Andrea Boattini (unofficial credits) |
| Discovery date | 20 November 2007 |
| Designations | |
|
NEO · Apollo Mars-crosser |
|
| Orbital characteristics | |
| Epoch 13 January 2016 (JD 2457400.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 5 · 0 | |
| Aphelion | 3.9289 AU (587.76 Gm) |
| Perihelion | 0.991120 AU (148.2694 Gm) |
| 2.4600 AU (368.01 Gm) | |
| Eccentricity | 0.59711 |
| 3.86 yr (1409.3 d) | |
|
Average orbital speed
|
12.5 km/s (27,900 mph) |
| 49.267° | |
| 0° 15m 19.62s /day | |
| Inclination | 2.4276° |
| 68.491° | |
| 309.622° | |
| Earth MOID | 0.0260299 AU (3.89402 Gm) |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Dimensions | 50 m (160 ft) |
| 24.3 | |
2007 WD5 is an Apollo asteroid some 50 m (160 ft) in diameter and a Mars-crosser asteroid first observed on November 20, 2007, by Andrea Boattini of the Catalina Sky Survey. Early observations of 2007 WD5 caused excitement amongst the scientific community when it was estimated as having as high as a 1 in 25 chance of colliding with Mars on January 30, 2008. However, by January 9, 2008, additional observations allowed NASA's Near Earth Object Program (NEOP) to reduce the uncertainty region resulting in only a 1-in-10,000 chance of impact.2007 WD5 most likely passed Mars at a distance of 6.5 Mars radii. Due to this relatively small distance and the uncertainty level of the prior observations, the gravitational effects of Mars on its trajectory are unknown and, according to Steven Chesley of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory Near-Earth Object program, 2007 WD5 is currently considered 'lost' (see lost asteroids).
The asteroid was discovered on November 20, 2007 by Andrea Boattini of the NASA-funded Catalina Sky Survey on Mount Lemmon, near Tucson, Arizona, United States, using a 1.5-meter telescope. It was discovered in the constellation Taurus at an apparent magnitude of +20. This is about 400,000 times fainter than most people can see with the naked eye on a dark night far from city lights. It was discovered nineteen days after passing near the Earth. By the time it arrived at Mars it had an apparent magnitude of roughly +26 and therefore appeared over 100x fainter than at the time of discovery.
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