| Discovery | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | Pan-STARRS |
| Discovery date | 13 July 2013 |
| Designations | |
| 2013 ND15 | |
| Orbital characteristics[2][3][4] | |
| Epoch 13 January 2016 (JD 2457400.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 7 | |
| Aphelion | 1.1660 AU (174.43 Gm) |
| Perihelion | 0.28100 AU (42.037 Gm) |
| 0.72351 AU (108.236 Gm) | |
| Eccentricity | 0.61162 |
| 0.62 yr (224.8 d) | |
| 198.82° | |
| 1.6015°/day | |
| Inclination | 4.7962° |
| 95.841° | |
| 19.697° | |
| Earth MOID | 0.00751978 AU (1,124,943 km) |
| Jupiter MOID | 3.95146 AU (591.130 Gm) |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Dimensions | 40–100 m[a][5] |
| 24.1[2] | |
2013 ND15 is a smallasteroid that is a temporarytrojan of Venus. Located at Venus'sL4, it is the first known Venus trojan.[6]
2013 ND15 was discovered on 13 July 2013 by N. Primak, A. Schultz, T. Goggia and K. Chambers, observing for thePan-STARRS project. As of September 2014, it has been observed 21 times with a data-arc span of 26 days. It is anAten asteroid and its semi-major axis (0.7235 astronomical units; AU) is very similar to that of Venus but it has a high eccentricity (0.6115) and a small orbital inclination (4.794°). With an absolute magnitude of 24.1, it has a diameter in the range 40–100 m (for an assumed albedo range of 0.04–0.20).
2013 ND15 has been identified as a Venus trojan following atadpole orbit around Venus's Lagrangian pointL4.[6] Besides being a Venusco-orbital, this asteroid is also aMercury crosser and anEarth crosser.2013 ND15 exhibitsresonant (or near-resonant) behavior withMercury, Venus andEarth.[6] Its short-term dynamical evolution is different from that of the other three Venus co-orbitals,2001 CK32,Zoozve, and2012 XE133.[6]
2013 ND15 is not included in theMinor Planet Center list of potentially hazardous asteroids (PHAs) because its absolute magnitude is greater than 22.0, even though it comes to within 0.05 AU of Earth periodically. It approached Earth at 0.077 AU on 21 June 2016.
