LONEOS

Encyclopedia excerpt

Lowell Observatory Near-Earth-Object Search (LONEOS) was a project designed to discover asteroids and comets that orbit near the Earth. The project, funded by NASA, was directed by astronomer Ted Bowell of Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona. The LONEOS project began in 1993 and ran until the end of February 2008.

Eccentricity · e

1.0032

Orbit and dynamics

The path is an ellipse reaching 3.886 AU from the Sun at perihelion and -2,445.9 AU at aphelion, a radial span of -2,449.8 AU.

The high eccentricity (1.003) produces a strongly elongated orbit, so the object spends most of its time far from the Sun.

A steep inclination of 130.7° carries it well above and below the ecliptic plane.

Size and surface

Neither a measured diameter nor a reliable absolute magnitude is available for LONEOS, so its physical size remains unconstrained.

Observation record and orbit quality

The current orbit solution is based on 314 observations and has a weighted RMS residual of 0.6727 arcseconds.

About these computed values

Orbital periods, perihelion and aphelion speeds, and diameter estimates on this page are computed by SpaceAtlas from the JPL SBDB orbital elements. They are derived quantities, not values copied from the source catalogue.

Orbital Parameters

Semi-Major Axis

-1221.0 AU

Eccentricity

1.0032

Perihelion

3.886 AU

Aphelion

-2445.9072 AU

Inclination

130.68°

Orbital Period

— yr

Epoch

2453917.5

Mean Anomaly

-0.01°

3D orbit (interactive)

Drag to rotate; scroll or pinch to zoom. The Sun is at the focus (orange), Earth's orbit is the grey ring at 1 AU, and the red dot marks the object's current position.

Close approaches

No close approaches to Earth are currently on record for this object.

Physical Parameters

Diameter

— km

Albedo

—

Density

— g/cm³

Rotation Period

— h

Absolute Magnitude

—

Orbit Quality

RMS

0.67274

Condition

—

Orbit ID

—

Data source: NASA JPL Small-Body Database . Orbital periods, perihelion and aphelion speeds, and diameter estimates on this page are computed by SpaceAtlas from the JPL SBDB orbital elements. They are derived quantities, not values copied from the source catalogue.

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