9969 Braille
| Discovery | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by |
E. F. Helin K. J. Lawrence |
| Discovery site | Palomar Obs. |
| Discovery date | 27 May 1992 |
| Designations | |
| MPC designation | 9969 Braille |
|
Named after
|
Louis Braille (inventor of braille) |
| 1992 KD | |
| Mars-crosser | |
| Orbital characteristics | |
| Epoch 13 January 2016 (JD 2457400.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 0 | |
| Observation arc | 23.53 yr (8,596 days) |
| Aphelion | 3.3551 AU |
| Perihelion | 1.3265 AU |
| 2.3408 AU | |
| Eccentricity | 0.4333 |
| 3.58 yr (1,308 days) | |
| 211.73° | |
| Inclination | 28.995° |
| 241.95° | |
| 356.13° | |
| Earth MOID | 0.3138 AU |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Dimensions | 2.1 km × 1 km × 1 km 1.600±0.511 km 1.64 km (derived) |
| Mass | 7.8×1015g |
|
Mean density
|
3.9 g cm−3 |
|
226.4 h 226 h |
|
|
0.1289±0.2441 0.18 (assumed) |
|
| SMASS = Q | |
| 15.8 | |
9969 Braille is a small Mars-crossing asteroid that orbits the Sun once every 3.58 years. It was discovered in 1992 by astronomers at Palomar observatory and later named after Louis Braille, the inventor of the writing system for the blind. It was photographed in closeup by the spacecraft Deep Space 1 in 1999, but a malfunction resulted in indistinct images.
Discovered on May 27, 1992, by E. F. Helin and K. J. Lawrence working at the Palomar observatory as part of NASA's Planet-Crossing Asteroid Survey, it was given the provisional designation 1992 KD. Later, it was renamed Braille in honour of Louis Braille as suggested by Kennedy Space Center software engineer Kerry Babcock in The Planetary Society's contest titled "Name That Asteroid".
Braille has an unusually inclined orbit, and belongs to the somewhat rare class of asteroids known as Mars-crossing asteroids. Simulations of its orbit by scientists of the Deep Space 1 project predict that it will evolve into an Earth-crossing orbit in about 4000 years. Although its closest approach to the Sun is closer than Mars orbit, its highly elliptical orbit takes it almost half-way to Jupiter at its apoapsis, and as such its semi-major axis is too large for it to be classified as an Amor asteroid.
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