2062 Aten
 Orbital diagram of the Aten asteroid, with location as of September 11, 2013 | |
| Discovery | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | Eleanor F. Helin |
| Discovery site | Palomar |
| Discovery date | January 7, 1976 |
| Designations | |
Named after | Aten |
| 1976 AA | |
| Aten asteroid | |
| Orbital characteristics | |
| Epoch July 14, 2004 (JD 2453200.5) | |
| Aphelion | 171.038 Gm (1.143 AU) |
| Perihelion | 118.197 Gm (0.790 AU) |
| 144.617 Gm (0.967 AU) | |
| Eccentricity | 0.183 |
| 347.168 d (0.95 a) | |
Average orbital speed | 30.04 km/s |
| 225.354° | |
| Inclination | 18.932° |
| 108.635° | |
| 147.946° | |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Dimensions | 0.9 km |
| Mass | 7.6×1011 kg |
Mean density | 2 ? g/cm³ |
| 0.000 25 m/s² | |
| 0.000 48 km/s | |
| 1.699 d | |
| Albedo | 0.2 aparrent mag.=13.7 |
| Temperature | ~275 K |
Spectral type | S |
| 16.80 | |
2062 Aten (/ˈɑːtən/ AH-tən)[1] is an asteroid that was discovered at the Palomar Mountain Observatory by Eleanor F. Helin, who is now the principal scientist for the NEAT (Near-Earth Asteroid Tracking) project. It is named after Aten, the Egyptian god of the solar disk.
Aten was the first asteroid found to have a semi-major orbital axis of less than one astronomical unit. A new category of asteroids was thus created, the Atens, of which 16 are known and numbered, and some 212 awaiting numbering as of July 2004, ranging from (99907) 1989 VA to 2004 MD6.
References
- ^ Oxford English Dictionary
