2063 Bacchus
Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox planet
2063 Bacchus, provisional designation Template:Mp, is a stony asteroid and near-Earth object of the Apollo group, approximately 1 kilometer in diameter. The contact binary was discovered on 24 April 1977, by American astronomer Charles Kowal at the Palomar Observatory in California, United States. It was named after Bacchus from Roman mythology.<ref name="springer" /><ref name="MPC-Bacchus" />
Orbit and classification
Bacchus orbits the Sun at a distance of 0.7–1.5 AU once every 1 years and 1 month (409 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.35 and an inclination of 9° with respect to the ecliptic.<ref name="jpldata" /> The asteroid's observation arc begins with its official discovery observation at Palomar.<ref name="MPC-Bacchus" /> Due to its eccentric orbit, it is also a Venus-crosser.
Approaches
Bacchus has an Earth minimum orbital intersection distance of Template:Convert, which corresponds to 26.4 lunar distances.<ref name="jpldata" /> On 31 March 1996, it passed Template:Convert from Earth.<ref name="jpldata" />
Physical characteristics
In the SMASS classification, Bacchus is a Sq-type, that transitions from the common S-type asteroids to the Q-type asteroids.<ref name="jpldata" /> It is a contact binary with bilobate shape.
In March 1996 radar observations were conducted at the Goldstone Observatory under the direction of JPL scientists Steven Ostro and Lance Benner, allowing the construction of a model of the object.<ref name="Benner-1999" /> Optical observations were conducted by Petr Pravec, Marek Wolf, and Lenka Šarounová during March and April 1996. It was also photometrically observed by American astronomer Brian Warner in 2015.<ref name="Warner-2015r" /><ref name="Pravec-1998b" /><ref name="Pravec-2012b" />
According to the survey carried out by the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, Bacchus measures 1.03 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo of 0.19.<ref name="Nugent-2016" /> The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo for stony asteroids of 0.20 and derives a diameter of 1.05 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 17.25.<ref name="lcdb" />
Naming
This minor planet was named for the Roman god Bacchus (Dionysus).The official Template:MoMP was published by the Minor Planet Center on 1 August 1978 (Template:Small).<ref name="springer" /><ref name="DoMP-Circular-dates" />
References