Discovered by M. Wolf MPC designation 887 Alinda Minor planet category Amor, NEO Absolute magnitude 13.4 Discoverer Max Wolf | Discovery date 3 January 1918 Alternative names 1918 DB Discovered 3 January 1918 Orbits Sun Asteroid group Alinda family | |
Named after Alinda (city) or
Aboriginal mythology Discovery site Landessternwarte Heidelberg-Königstuhl Similar Sun, Solar System, 528 Rezia, 434 Hungaria, 1221 Amor | ||
887 Alinda (/əˈlɪndə/ ə-LIN-də) is a very eccentric, near-Earth asteroid with an Earth minimum orbit intersection distance (MOID) of 0.092 AU. It is the namesake for the Alinda family group of asteroids and measures about 4 kilometers in diameter. The stony S-type asteroid was discovered by German astronomer Max Wolf at Heidelberg Observatory on 3 January 1918.
Due to its high eccentricity and semi-major axis of 0.57 and 2.5 AU, respectively, it is a typical Amor III asteroid. It has both, a 1:3 orbital resonance with Jupiter and a close to 4:1 resonance with Earth. In addition, because its orbit also lies within the asteroid belt, it is often classified as a main-belt asteroid.
Alinda makes close approaches to Earth, including a pass in January 2025, where it comes within 0.0821 AU (12,280,000 km; 7,630,000 mi) of Earth.
The asteroid's name had been proposed by H. Kobol. It is uncertain whether it refers to the ancient city of Alinda in modern western Turkey, or to a mythological figure of the Australian aboriginals.