| Discovery date 16 September 2006 Minor planet category centaur Aphelion 32.098 AU (4.8018 Tm) Inclination 36.299° Mean anomaly 19.679° Discovery site Apache Point Observatory | MPC designation (145451) 2005 RM43 Observation arc 2160 days (5.91 yr) Discovered 16 September 2006 Argument of perihelion 70.625° Discoverer Jeremy M. Kubica Asteroid group Centaur | |
| Discovered by A. C. BeckerA. W. PuckettJ. M. Kubica | ||
(248835) 2006 SX368 /əˈkɪroʊ.iː/, also known as 2006 SX368, is a centaur orbiting in the outer Solar System between Saturn and Neptune. It was discovered on September 16, 2006 by Andrew Becker, Andrew Puckett and Jeremy Kubica at Apache Point Observatory in Sunspot, New Mexico.
Contents
Orbit
Centaurs have short dynamical lives due to strong interactions with the giant planets. The orbit of (248835) 2006 SX368 is unusually eccentric — near the perihelion it comes under influence of Uranus, while at the aphelion it travels slightly beyond the orbit of Neptune.
Physical characteristics
In 2010, thermal flux from (248835) 2006 SX368 in the far-infrared was measured by the Herschel Space Telescope. As a result, its equivalent size was estimated to lie within a range from 70 kilometres (43 mi) to 80 kilometres (50 mi).