(144898) 2004 VD17

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The correct title of this article is (144898) 2004 VD₁₇. It features superscript or subscript characters that are substituted or omitted because of technical limitations.

(144898) 2004 VD₁₇

Discovery and Designation

Discovered by:

LINEAR

Discovery date:

November 7, 2004

Minor planet category:

Apollo asteroid,
Earth-crosser asteroid
Venus-crosser asteroid
Mars-crosser asteroid

Orbital characteristics

Epoch September 21, 2006

Aphelion distance:

358.422 Gm (2.3959 AU)

Perihelion distance:

92.8 Gm (0.6204 AU)

Semi-major axis:

225.610 G m (1.50815 AU)

0.588654

676.499 d (1.85 a)

33.427°

4.223°

Longitude of ascending node:

224.241°

Argument of perihelion:

90.687°

Physical characteristics

Dimensions:

0.5-1.1 km

Mass:

0.13-1.8×10¹² kg

Mean density:

2.0? g/cm³

Equatorial Escape velocity:

0.0003-0.0006 km/s

Geometric albedo:

0.15

Surface temp.:
Kelvin

min	mean	max
	~227 K

Absolute magnitude:

18.90

(144898) 2004 VD₁₇ (previously known by its provisional designation 2004 VD₁₇) is a near-Earth asteroid once thought to have a low but significant probability of impacting Earth in 2102. From February to May 2006 it was listed with a Torino Scale impact risk value of 2, only the second asteroid in risk monitoring history to be rated above value 1. The Torino rating was lowered to 1 after additional observations on May 20, 2006 and finally dropped to 0 on October 17, 2006.

As of the observation on December 17, 2006, JPL assigns 2004 VD₁₇ a Torino value of 0 and an impact probability of 1 in 41.667 million in the next 100 years. This value is far below the background impact rate of objects this size.

2004 VD₁₇ was discovered on November 7, 2004 by the NASA-funded LINEAR asteroid survey. The object is estimated by NASA's Near Earth Object Program Office to be 580 meters in diameter with an approximate mass of 2.6x10¹¹ kg.

Accoring to NeoDys (which compiles data from the IAU's Minor Planet Center), the Palermo Scale rating is currently -3.52 for the 2102 encounter, and -8.09 and -6.81 for encounters in 2103 and 2104 respectively. The ratings are based on 961 optical observations dating from February 16, 2002. JPL's Sentry System has returned similar results with a Palermo Scale rating of -4.91 for the 2102 encounter, based on 908 optical observations also dating from February 16, 2002. This continues a trend of decreasing Palermo rating with continuing observations.