Discovered by Eleanor F. Helin Discovery date 7 January 1976 Minor planet category Aten asteroid Discovered 7 January 1976 Orbits Sun Discoverer Eleanor F. Helin | Discovery site Palomar Alternative names 1976 AA Observation arc 59.14 yr (21601 days) Asteroid group Aten asteroid Spectral type S-type asteroid Named after Aten | |
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Similar 1221 Amor, Sun, Solar System, 1862 Apollo, 2100 Ra‑Shalom | ||
2062 Aten (/ˈɑːtən/) is an asteroid that was discovered at the Palomar Mountain Observatory by Eleanor F. Helin, who was the principal scientist for the NEAT (Near-Earth Asteroid Tracking) project until she retired in 2002. It is named after Aten, the Egyptian god of the solar disk.
Aten was the first asteroid found to have a semi-major orbital axis of less than one astronomical unit. A new category of asteroids was thus created, the Atens. As of July 2004 about 16 Atens were numbered and some 212 were provisional, the unnumbered Atens ranged from what was then 1989 VA to 2004 MD6.
References
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