The asteroid 1999 AN10 was discovered by the LINEAR telescope on
13 January 1999 [MPEC 1999-B03]. The discovery was somewhat unusual in that the
declination was .
The nominal orbit computed by our online information service [NEODyS],
that is the solution of the least squares fit to 94 observations (with
one outlier removed, RMS of the residuals 0.59 arc-sec), is as
follows (J2000):
a=1.458432 AU,
e=0.562093,
,
,
,
,
for epoch
.
The absolute
magnitude is estimated at
;
given that the albedo is
unknown, this object could be between 0.5 and 2 km in
diameter. The ascending node is only
AU closer to the Sun
than a point where the Earth is in early August; the descending node
is
AU inward from a position of the Earth in early
February. This means that, whenever the asteroid and the Earth are in
phase at each node, close approaches are possible. Indeed a close
approach is possible in August 2027.
To analyse the 2027 encounter, we need to consider not only the
nominal solution, but also all the solutions compatible with the
observations, that is resulting in residuals which are not much larger
than the ones of the nominal orbit [Milani 1999]. The region of
these compatible solutions can be approximated by an ellipsoid of
confidence, which,
for a
value up to 3,
contains solutions with RMS of the residuals up to 0.63 arc-sec.
The nominal solution undergoes a close approach in August 2027 with a
minimum distance from Earth's center of
AU. The plane normal
to the geocentric velocity at closest approach is the Modified Target
Plane [Milani & Valsecchi 1999]. The hypothetical objects filling the
confidence region evolve along a bundle of orbits; their intersections
with the MTP define the confidence region of the encounter. If the
Earth is not touched by this confidence region, then a collision
can be ruled out.
The confidence regions are very thin, the width being only
km, and 0.42 AU long. Thus the occurrence of a very close approach
is not very likely: the true orbit could be anywhere along a very long
line, including long stretches corresponding to very shallow
encounters.
In conclusion, the 2027 encounter could be a shallow approach, or could be, with a low, non-negligible probability, very close. In any case it cannot result in an impact. But the case for a possible dangerous encounter is not closed after 2027; indeed, it is just opened.