(434620) 2005 VD

(434620) 2005 VD, provisional designation 2005 VD, is a centaur and damocloid on a retrograde orbit from the outer Solar System, known for having the second most highly inclined orbit of any small Solar System body, behind 2013 LA2. It was the most highly inclined known object between 2005 and 2013. The unusual object measures approximately 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) in diameter.^[4]

(434620) 2005 VD

Discovery[1]
Discovered by	Mount Lemmon Srvy.
Discovery site	Mount Lemmon Obs.
Discovery date	1 November 2005
Designations
MPC designation	(434620) 2005 VD
Alternative designations	2005 VD
Minor planet category	centaur[2][3] · damocloid[4] unusual[5][6] · distant[1]
Orbital characteristics[2]
Epoch 27 April 2019 (JD 2458600.5)
Uncertainty parameter 2
Observation arc	11.40 yr (4,163 d)
Aphelion	8.3535 AU
Perihelion	4.9956 AU
Semi-major axis	6.6746 AU
Eccentricity	0.2515
Orbital period (sidereal)	17.24 yr (6,298 d)
Mean anomaly	275.05°
Mean motion	0° 3m 25.92s / day
Inclination	172.87°
Longitude of ascending node	173.31°
Argument of perihelion	177.92°
Jupiter MOID	0.0306 AU
TJupiter	-1.3960
Physical characteristics
Mean diameter	6 km[4]
Geometric albedo	0.04 (assumed dark) 0.09 (assumed)[4]
Spectral type	B–R = 1.05[4]
Absolute magnitude (H)	14.3[1][2]

Description

This minor planet was discovered on 1 November 2005, by astronomers of the Mount Lemmon Survey at Mount Lemmon Observatory near Tucson, Arizona.^[1] Precovery images have been found by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) from September 2005 and December 2001.

Classification

2005 VD has a semi-major axis greater than Jupiter and almost crosses the orbit of Jupiter when near perihelion.

2005 VD has a semi-major axis greater than Jupiter and almost crosses the orbit of Jupiter when near perihelion. JPL lists it as a current centaur.^[2] Both the Deep Ecliptic Survey (DES),^[3] and the Minor Planet Center (MPC)^[7] have listed it as a centaur (q_min=~5AU) at different epochs. The DES and MPC will list as a centaur again in 2032.

Lowell Observatory also has it listed as a damocloid object.^[6]

2005 VD makes occasional close approaches to Jupiter, coming only 0.0817 AU (12.22 million km) from Jupiter in 1903, 0.0445 AU (6.66 million km) in 2057, and 0.077 AU (11.5 million km) in 2093. However it made a close approach to Jupiter when it was only 0.309 AU (46.2 million km) away from it on 17 December 2022 which was the closest it could get to Jupiter for the decade.^[2]

Dynamics

Being a highly dynamic object, even among centaurs, 2005 VD's orbit has visibly changed even since its discovery. Between 1600 and 2400, its semimajor axis will slowly increase from 6.64 to 6.96 AU, its eccentricity slowly increasing from 0.27 to 0.34, and a decreasing inclination from 176.7° to 169.9°. As such, until about 1870, 2005 VD was the most highly inclined known asteroid in the Solar System.