2011 SL25

2011 SL25
Discovery
Discovery date September 21, 2011
Designations
MPC designation 2011 SL25
Martian L5
Orbital characteristics
Epoch April 18, 2013 (JD 2456400.5)
Aphelion 1.6983454 AU
Perihelion 1.3494972 AU
1.5239213 AU
Eccentricity 0.1144574
1.88 yr
251.68296°
Inclination 21.49666°
9.42731°
53.29126°
Physical characteristics
Dimensions 575 m
Albedo 0.5-0.05 (assumed)
19.5

    2011 SL25, also written as 2011 SL25, is a small minor body that has been identified as a L5 Mars trojan candidate.[1]

    Discovery, orbit and physical properties

    2011 SL25 was discovered on September 21, 2011 at the Alianza S4 Observatory on Cerro Burek in Argentina [2] and classified as Mars-crosser by the Minor Planet Center. It follows a relatively eccentric orbit (0.11) with a semi-major axis of 1.52 AU.[2] This object has noticeable orbital inclination (21.5º).[2] Its orbit is still not very well constrained as it is currently (March 2013) based on 76 observations with a data-arc span of just 42 days.[3] 2011 SL25 is an asteroid with an absolute magnitude of 19.5 which gives a characteristic diameter of 575 m.[3]

    Mars trojan candidate and orbital evolution

    Recent calculations indicate that it is a stable L5 Mars Trojan candidate with a libration period of 1400 yr and an amplitude of 18º.[1][4] values as well as its short-term orbital evolution are similar to those of 5261 Eureka.

    Origin

    Long-term numerical integrations show that its orbit is stable on Gyr time-scales (1 Gyr = 1 billion years). It appears to be stable at least for 4.5 Gyr but its current orbit indicates that it has not been a dynamical companion to Mars for the entire history of the Solar System.[1]

    See also

    References

    1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 de la Fuente Marcos, C.; de la Fuente Marcos, R. (April 2013). "Three new stable L5 Mars Trojans". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters 432 (1): L31–L35. arXiv:1303.0124. Bibcode:2013MNRAS.432L..31D. doi:10.1093/mnrasl/slt028.
    2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 MPC data on 2011 SL25
    3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 JPL's Solar System Dynamics data on 2011 SL25
    4. ↑ Christou, A. A. (2013). "Orbital clustering of Martian Trojans: An asteroid family in the inner solar system?". Icarus 224 (1): 144–153. arXiv:1303.0420. Bibcode:2013Icar..224..144C. doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2013.02.013.
    Further reading

    External links