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Astronomers using the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF), a state-of-the-art camera from the Palomar Observatory in Southern California, have spotted a very unusual asteroid, named 2019 LF6.
This 2019 LF6 image was captured by ZTF on June 10, 2019. Image credit: ZTF / Caltech Optical Observatories.
2019 LF6 is one of 20 known "Atira" asteroids, whose orbits belong entirely to the Earth.
The object is about 1,300 feet (3,300 feet) and goes around the sun about every 151 days.
In its orbit, LF6 2019 moves beyond Venus and sometimes approaches that of Mercury, which surrounds the Sun every 88 days.
"The LF6 2019 is very unusual both in orbit and size. Its unique orbit explains why such a large asteroid has escaped several decades of careful research, "said Dr. Quanzhi Ye, Caltech postdoctoral researcher and member of the ZTF team.
The orbit of the 2019 LF6 asteroid (white) is entirely included in the Earth's orbit (blue). Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.
Every day, ZTF scans the sky for transient objects, such as exploding and blinking stars, as well as moving asteroids. It is well suited to search for Atira asteroids, with short windows of observation.
To find such asteroids, the ZTF team conducted a dedicated observation campaign called Twilight. Until now, the program has discovered another Atira asteroid, named 2019 AQ3.
Before 2019, the LF6 arrived, 2019 AQ3 had the shortest known year of all asteroids, gravitating around the Sun about every 165 days.
"The two large Atira asteroids discovered by ZTF are spinning well outside the solar system plan," said Tom Prince, a Caltech professor, a member of the ZTF team.
"This suggests that they have already been thrown into the past by the solar system because they approach Venus or Mercury too much.
The discovery of 2019 LF6 was announced in the Circular electronic minor planet (MPEC) published by the IAU Minor Planet Center on June 19, 2019.
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P. Bacci et al. 2019 LF6. Circular electronic minor planet # 2019-M45
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