 Orbit of 3671 Dionysus | |
| Discovery | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | C. S. Shoemaker E. M. Shoemaker |
| Discovery site | Palomar Observatory |
| Discovery date | 27 May 1984 |
| Designations | |
| (3671) Dionysus | |
| Pronunciation | /daɪəˈnaɪsəs/[1] |
Named after | ΔιόνυσοςDionȳsos |
| 1984 KD[2] | |
| PHA[2] | |
| Adjectives | Dionysian/daɪəˈnɪsiən/[3] |
| Orbital characteristics[2] | |
| Epoch 13 January 2016 (JD 2457400.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 0 | |
| Observation arc | 11629 days (31.84 yr) |
| Aphelion | 3.389527126 AU (507.0660407 Gm) |
| Perihelion | 1.00825538 AU (150.832858 Gm) |
| 2.198891253 AU (328.9494493 Gm) | |
| Eccentricity | 0.54147101 |
| 3.26yr (1191.0d) | |
| 244.408078° | |
| 0° 18m 8.181s / day | |
| Inclination | 13.5346771° |
| 82.1319934° | |
| 204.217348° | |
| Knownsatellites | 1 |
| Earth MOID | 0.0199599 AU (2.98596 Gm) |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Dimensions | 1.5 km[2] |
Meandensity | 1.6 g/cm3[4] |
| 2.7053 h (0.11272 d)[2] | |
| 0.16[2] | |
| B[2] | |
| 16.5[2] | |
3671 Dionysus is a small binaryAmor asteroid, orbiting betweenEarth and theasteroid belt. It was discovered byCarolyn andGene Shoemaker atPalomar Observatory on 27 May 1984. It is named afterDionysus, theGreek god of wine. Itsprovisional designation was1984 KD. It is anouter Earth grazer because its perihelion is just within Earth's orbit.
3671 Dionysus is apotentially hazardous asteroid (PHA) because itsminimum orbit intersection distance (MOID) is less than 0.05 AU and its diameter is greater than 150 meters. The Earth-MOID is 0.01989 AU (2,976,000 km; 1,849,000 mi).[2] Its orbit is well-determined for the next several hundred years.
Dionysus makes modestly close approaches to Earth. On 19 June 1984 Dionysus passed 0.0305 AU (4,560,000 km; 2,840,000 mi) from Earth.[2] On 18 June 2085 it will pass 0.028 AU (4,200,000 km; 2,600,000 mi) from Earth.[2]
In 1997, a team of astronomers at theEuropean Southern Observatory announced thatlightcurve observations indicate the presence of a small moon orbiting Dionysus. Its provisional designation is S/1997 (3671) 1. This moon measures 300 meters in diameter, and orbits 3.6 km from Dionysus with aneccentricity of 0.07 and anorbital period of 27.72 hours.[5] From the surface of Dionysus, S/1997 (3671) 1 would have an apparent diameter of roughly 3.02 degrees.[a] For comparison, theSun appears to be 0.5° from Earth.
