(162173) 1999 JU3

162173 Ryugu
Discovery
Discovered by LINEAR
Discovery date 10 May 1999
Designations
Named after
Ryūgū-jō
1999 JU3
Apollo asteroid
Orbital characteristics[1]
Epoch 2014-Dec-09 (JD 2457000.5)
Uncertainty parameter 0
Aphelion 1.4158 AU
Perihelion 0.9632 AU
1.1895 AU
Eccentricity 0.1903
1.2974 years (473.9 days)
114.3264°
Inclination 5.8839°
251.6117°
211.4257°
Physical characteristics
Dimensions 980 ± 29 m[2]
7.627 hours
Spectral type
Cg
19.2

    162173 Ryugu (provisional designation 1999 JU3) is an Apollo asteroid. It is planned that the Japanese space probe Hayabusa 2 returns samples from this asteroid by December 2020. It is the rare spectral type Cg, having qualities of both a C-type asteroid and a G-type asteroid.

    History

    Discovery

    Ryugu was discovered in 1999 by the LINEAR project, and was given the provisional designation 1999 JU3.

    Name

    The asteroid was officially named Ryugu on 5 October 2015.[3] Its name refers to Ryūgū-jō (Dragon's Palace), a wonderful and magical palace on the bottom of the ocean where Urashima Tarō, in a Japanese folktale, was brought by a turtle. When he returned, he brought back with him a mysterious box—much as Hayabusa 2 will bring back a capsule with samples.

    See also

    References

    1. JPL Small-Body Database Browser
    2. Hasegawa, S.; et al. (2008). "Albedo, Size, and Surface Characteristics of Hayabusa-2 Sample-Return Target 162173 1999 JU3 from AKARI". Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan 60 (SP2): S399–S405. doi:10.1093/pasj/60.sp2.s399.
    3. "Name Selection of Asteroid 1999 JU3 Target of the Asteroid Explorer “Hayabusa2”" (Press release). JAXA. October 5, 2015. Retrieved 2015-10-06.

    Bibliography

    External links

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