| Discovered by E. F. Helin
J. Alu MPC designation (10115) 1992 SK Observation arc 63.15 yr (23,065 days) Aphelion 1.65 m Orbits Sun Asteroid group Asteroid belt | Discovery date 24 September 1992 Minor planet category Apollo · NEO · PHA Discovered 24 September 1992 Inclination 15.322° Discovery site Palomar Observatory | |
| Alternative names 1992 SK · 1985 SD
1985 TO2 Discoverers Jeff T. Alu, Eleanor F. Helin | ||
(10115) 1992 SK, is an eccentric stony asteroid, classified as near-Earth object and potentially hazardous asteroid. It belongs to the group of Apollo asteroids and measures approximately 1 kilometer in diameter. It was discovered by American astronomers Eleanor Helin and Jeff T. Alu at the U.S. Palomar Observatory, California, on 24 September 1992.
The S-type asteroid orbits the Sun at a distance of 0.8–1.7 AU once every 17 months (509 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.32 and an inclination of 15° with respect to the ecliptic.Its Earth minimum orbit intersection distance is 0.0460 AU (6,880,000 km). This makes the body a potentially hazardous asteroid, because its MOID is less than 0.05 AU and its diameter is greater than 150 meters. The first precovery was obtained at Palomar Observatory in 1953, extending the asteroid's observation arc by 39 years prior to its discovery.
Several rotational light-curves form photometric observations have been obtained for this body. In 1999, Czech astronomer Petr Pravec constructed a light-curve, that rendered a rotation period of 7000732800000000000♠7.328±0.002 hours and a brightness variation of 0.72 in magnitude (U=n/a). In March 2006, observations by astronomer David Polishook from the ground-based Wise Observatory, Israel, gave a rotation period of 7000731000000000000♠7.31±0.02 and amplitude of 0.70 mag (U=2), and in November 2011, American astronomer Brian Warner at the Palmer Divide Observatory, Colorado, obtained the first well-defined period of 7000732300000000000♠7.323±0.005 hours with an amplitude of 0.50 mag (U=3).
According to the surveys carried out by NASA's space-based Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent NEOWISE mission, the asteroid measures 1.0 and 0.94 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo of 0.28 ot 0.32, respectively. The ExploreNEOs project finds an albedo of 0.34, with an diameter of 0.9 kilometers, and the Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link calculates a diameter of 1.18 kilometers based on an assumed standard albedo for stony asteroids of 0.20.