The discovery and characterization of (594913) 'Ayló'chaxnim, a kilometre sized asteroid inside the orbit of Venus

Author:

Bolin Bryce T12ORCID,Ahumada T3,van Dokkum P4,Fremling C1,Granvik M56,Hardegree-Ullman K K7ORCID,Harikane Y89,Purdum J N10,Serabyn E11,Southworth J12,Zhai C11

Affiliation:

1. Division of Physics, Mathematics and Astronomy, California Institute of Technology , Pasadena, CA 91125, USA

2. Infrared Processing and Analysis Center, California Institute of Technology , Pasadena, CA 91125, USA

3. Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland , College Park, MD 20740, USA

4. Department of Astronomy, Yale University , New Haven, CT 06511, USA

5. Department of Physics, University of Helsinki , FI-00560, Helsinki, Finland

6. Asteroid Engineering Lab, Luleå University of Technology , SE-981 28 Kiruna, Sweden

7. Steward Observatory, University of Arizona , Tucson, AZ 85721, USA

8. Institute for Cosmic Ray Research, The University of Tokyo Kashiwa , Chiba 277-8582, Japan

9. National Astronomical Observatory of Japan , Tokyo, 181-8588, Japan

10. Caltech Optical Observatory, California Institute of Technology , Pasadena, CA 91125, USA

11. Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology , Pasadena, CA 91109, USA

12. Astrophysical Research Institute, Liverpool John Moores University , Liverpool L2 2QP, UK

Abstract

ABSTRACT Near-Earth asteroid population models predict the existence of bodies located inside the orbit of Venus. Despite searches up to the end of 2019, none had been found. We report discovery and follow-up observations of (594913) 'Ayló'chaxnim, an asteroid with an orbit entirely interior to Venus. (594913) 'Ayló'chaxnim has an aphelion distance of ∼0.65 au, is ∼2 km in diameter and is red in colour. The detection of such a large asteroid inside the orbit of Venus is surprising given their rarity according to near-Earth asteroid population models. As the first officially numbered and named asteroid located entirely within the orbit of Venus, we propose that the class of interior to Venus asteroids be referred to as 'Ayló'chaxnim asteroids.

Funder

Heising-Simons Foundation

Jet Propulsion Laboratory

California Institute of Technology

NASA

National Science Foundation

Publisher

Oxford University Press (OUP)

Subject

Space and Planetary Science,Astronomy and Astrophysics

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