(342842) 2008 YB3, provisional designation: 2008 YB3, is a sizable centaur and retrograde damocloid from the outer Solar System, approximately 67 kilometers (42 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 18 December 2008, by astronomers with the Siding Spring Survey at the Siding Spring Observatory in Australia.[1][3] The minor planet was numbered in 2012 and has since not been named.
| Discovery[1] | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | Siding Spring Srvy. |
| Discovery site | Siding Spring Obs. |
| Discovery date | 18 December 2008 |
| Designations | |
| (342842) 2008 YB3 | |
| 2008 YB3 | |
| centaur[2][3][4] · damocloid distant[1] | |
| Orbital characteristics[2] | |
| Epoch 1 July 2021 (JD 2459396.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 1 | |
| Observation arc | 11.78 yr (4,302 d) |
| Aphelion | 16.698 AU |
| Perihelion | 6.4673 AU |
| 11.583 AU | |
| Eccentricity | 0.4417 |
| 39.42 yr (14,399 d) | |
| 94.371° | |
| 0° 1m 30s / day | |
| Inclination | 105.06° |
| 112.64° | |
| 330.44° | |
| TJupiter | -0.2460 |
| Physical characteristics | |
| 67 km[3][5] | |
| n.a.[2][6] | |
| 0.062[3][5] | |
| BR[3] B–I = 1.750±0.01[7] B–R = 1.260±0.01[7] R–I = 0.490±0.01[7] V–R = 0.460±0.01[7] | |
| 9.3[1][2] | |
2008 YB3 orbits the Sun at a distance of 6.5–16.7 AU once every 39 years and 5 months (14,399 days; semi-major axis of 11.58 AU). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.44 and an inclination of 105° with respect to the ecliptic.[2] The body’s observation arc begins with its official discovery observation at Siding Spring in December 2008.[1]
2008 YB3 is a member of the centaurs, a population of inward-moving bodies transiting from the Kuiper belt to the group of Jupiter-family comets. Orbiting mainly between Jupiter and Neptune, they typically have a semi-major axis of 5.5 to 30.1 AU. Centaurs are cometary-like bodies with an eccentric orbit. Their short dynamical lifetime is due to the perturbing forces exerted on them by the outer planets of the Solar System.[8]
The object is on a retrograde orbit as it has an inclination of more than 90°.[2][9] There are only about a hundred known retrograde minor planets out of nearly 800,000 observed bodies, and, together with 2013 LU28 and 2011 MM4, it is among the largest such objects.[9] The object also meets the orbital definition for being a damocloid. This is a small group of cometary-like objects without a coma or tail and a Tisserand’s parameter with respect to Jupiter of less than 2 besides a retrograde orbit.
This minor planet was numbered by the Minor Planet Center on 29 October 2012, receiving the number (342842) in the minor planet catalog (M.P.C. 80959).[10] As of 2021[update], it has not been named.[1] According to the established naming conventions, it will be named after one of the many centaurs from Greek mythology, which are creatures with the upper body of a human and the lower body and legs of a horse.[11]
2008 YB3 has an intermediate BR color, in between the BB (“grey-blue”) and RR (“very red”) color classes.[3] Sheppard‘s obtained color indices: B–I (1.750), B–R (1.260), R–I (0.490) and V–R (0.460) agree with most other centaurs.[7][8]: 4 The resulting B–V index is 0.8 (subtracting V–R from B–R).
According to the survey of centaurs and scattered-disc objects carried out by the NEOWISE mission of NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, 2008 YB3 measures 67.1 kilometers (41.7 miles) in diameter and its surface has an albedo of 0.062,[5] which makes it too small to be considered as a dwarf-planet candidate.
As of 2021[update], no rotational lightcurve of has been obtained from photometric observations. The body’s rotation period, pole and shape remain unknown.[2][6]
- ^ a b c d e f “342842 (2008 YB3)”. Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 18 October 2018.
- ^ a b c d e f g “JPL Small-Body Database Browser: 342842 (2008 YB3)” (2017-10-29 last obs.). Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved 18 October 2018.
- ^ a b c d e f Johnston, Wm. Robert (7 October 2018). “List of Known Trans-Neptunian Objects”. Johnston’s Archive. Retrieved 12 August 2021.
- ^ “List Of Centaurs and Scattered-Disk Objects”. Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 18 October 2018.
- ^ a b c Bauer, James M.; Grav, Tommy; Blauvelt, Erin; Mainzer, A. K.; Masiero, Joseph R.; Stevenson, Rachel; et al. (August 2013). “Centaurs and Scattered Disk Objects in the Thermal Infrared: Analysis of WISE/NEOWISE Observations”. The Astrophysical Journal. 773 (1): 11. arXiv:1306.1862. Bibcode:2013ApJ…773…22B. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/773/1/22. S2CID 51139703.
- ^ a b “LCDB Data for (342842)”. Asteroid Lightcurve Database (LCDB). Retrieved 18 October 2018.
- ^ a b c d e “Asteroid (342842) 2008 YB3”. Small Bodies Data Ferret. Retrieved 18 October 2018.
- ^ a b Peixinho, N.; Doressoundiram, A.; Delsanti, A.; Boehnhardt, H.; Barucci, M. A.; Belskaya, I. (October 2003). “Reopening the TNOs color controversy: Centaurs bimodality and TNOs unimodality”. Astronomy and Astrophysics. 410 (3): L29–L32. arXiv:astro-ph/0309428. Bibcode:2003A&A…410L..29P. doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20031420. S2CID 8515984.
- ^ a b de la Fuente Marcos, C.; de la Fuente Marcos, R. (August 2014). “Large retrograde Centaurs: visitors from the Oort cloud?”. Astrophysics and Space Science. 352 (2): 409–419(Ap&SSHomepage). arXiv:1406.1450. Bibcode:2014Ap&SS.352..409D. doi:10.1007/s10509-014-1993-9. S2CID 119255885.
- ^ “MPC/MPO/MPS Archive”. Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 18 October 2018.
- ^ “Naming of Astronomical Objects – Minor planets”. IAU – International Astronomical Union. Retrieved 12 August 2021.
- List Of Centaurs and Scattered-Disk Objects, Minor Planet Center
- (342842) 2008 YB3 at AstDyS-2, Asteroids—Dynamic Site
- (342842) 2008 YB3 at the JPL Small-Body Database