Discovery date 9 December 2001 Minor planet category Centaur Aphelion 48.731 AU (7.2901 Tm) Inclination 12.628° Discovery site Mauna Kea Observatories | MPC designation (148975) 2001 XA255 Observation arc 3812 days (10.44 yr) Discovered 9 December 2001 Argument of perihelion 90.452° Asteroid group Centaur | |
Discovered by David C. Jewitt, Scott S. Sheppard and Jan Kleyna Discoverers Scott S. Sheppard, Jan Kleyna, David C. Jewitt Similar Scott S Sheppard discoveries, Other celestial objects | ||
(148975) 2001 XA255, also written as 2001 XA255, is a minor body classified as centaur by the Minor Planet Center. The object is currently trapped in a 1:1 mean-motion resonance with Neptune following a path of the horseshoe type.
Contents
Discovery
(148975) 2001 XA255 was discovered on December 9, 2001 by David C. Jewitt, Scott S. Sheppard, and Jan Kleyna observing from the Mauna Kea Observatory.
Orbit
(148975) 2001 XA255 follows a very eccentric orbit (0.68) with perihelion just inside the orbit of Saturn, aphelion in the trans-Neptunian belt and a semi-major axis of 28.9 AU. The orbital inclination of this object is moderate at 12.6º.
Physical properties
The object has an estimated diameter of 12.5 km and it was classified as an inactive centaur by David C. Jewitt. Its absolute magnitude is 11.2.
Resonance with Neptune
(148975) 2001 XA255 was identified as trapped in a 1:1 mean-motion resonance with Neptune and 1:2 with Uranus by T. Gallardo in 2006. The object is dynamically unstable and it entered the region of the giant planets relatively recently, perhaps 50,000 years ago, from the scattered disk. It follows a short-lived horseshoe orbit around Neptune.