is an asteroid from the central regions of the asteroid belt. After its first observations in 2007, where it was designated , it was thought to be an inner heliospheric asteroid and near-Earth object with one of the closest perihelions ever observed of any body orbiting the Sun, until further observations found differently. The object measures approximately in diameter.
Orbit and classification
Inner heliospheric asteroid When the object was first observed as by the Mount Lemmon Survey in March 2007, it was thought to have the second-smallest positive semi-major axis (0.55 AU) of any known object orbiting the Sun, after Mercury. It was classified as an Apohele asteroid, which always stay inside of Earth's orbit, approaching within of the Sun approximately every 148 days, before leaving for a distance of 0.98 AU, making it a Mercury- and Venus-crossing asteroid. If these early orbital calculations had not turned out to be wrong, the object would still rank today among the inner heliospheric asteroids with the smallest known perihelia.
Orbital determination as main-belt asteroid The object remained listed as an inner heliospheric asteroid for several years, until identifications with and and a subsequent improvement of the orbital uncertainty completely overturned previous calculations. is now a secured central main-belt asteroid orbiting the Sun at a distance of 2.2–3.1 AU once every 4 years and 3 months (1,555 days; semi-major axis of 2.63 AU). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.17 and an inclination of 32° with respect to the ecliptic.
References
External links Atira Asteroids On An Inside Track, Al Grauer Dawn of Small Worlds: Dwarf Planets, Asteroids, Comets – Atira group, p.34, Michael Moltenbrey Asteroid 2007 EB26 Near-Mercury Flyby (0.020 AU) , icalshare.com Could there be objects orbiting interior to Mercury?, curious.astro.cornell.edu Jerusalem Girls Win the Telescope, weizmann-usa.org, March 2016 Current Discovery Circumstances: Numbered Minor Planets (455001)-(460000) – Minor Planet Center