298 Baptistina
298 Baptistina is a common Main belt asteroid. It was found by Auguste Charlois on September 9, 1890 in Nice.
 Asteroid 298 Baptistina (apparent magnitude 15.2) near a mag 15.3 star | |
| Discovery | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | Auguste Charlois |
| Discovery date | 9 September 1890 |
| Designations | |
| MPC designation | (298) Baptistina |
| Main belt, Baptistina family | |
| Orbital characteristics[1] | |
| Epoch 31 July 2016 (JD 2457600.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 0 | |
| Observation arc | 123.99 yr (45289 d) |
| Aphelion | 2.4805 AU (371.08 Gm) |
| Perihelion | 2.0475 AU (306.30 Gm) |
| 2.2640 AU (338.69 Gm) | |
| Eccentricity | 0.095630 |
| 3.41 yr (1244.3 d) | |
| 209.69° | |
| 0° 17m 21.588s / day | |
| Inclination | 6.2884° |
| 8.2161° | |
| 135.004° | |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Dimensions | 13–30 km[2][3] |
| 16.23 h (0.676 d)[1] 16.23±0.02 hours[3] | |
| X-type | |
| 11.2 | |
Although it has an orbit similar to the Flora family asteroids, it was found to be an unrelated asteroid.[4]
A 2007 US-Czech study decided that 298 Baptistina may be the biggest remnant of a 170 km (110 mile) asteroid that was destroyed about 160 million years ago in an impact with a smaller body, making the Baptistina family of asteroids and that the Baptistina event may have created the eventual impact asteroid believed by many to have caused the K/T extinction event about 65 million years ago.[5] This is the K/T impactor believed to be shown in the geological record.[6] This theory has not, as yet, found general acceptance among the scientific community.
References change
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "298 Baptistina". JPL Small-Body Database. NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved 11 May 2016.
- ↑ Reddy V., et al. (2008). Composition of 298 Baptistina: Implications for K–T Impactor Link, Asteroids, Comets, Meteors conference.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Majaess D., Higgins D., Molnar L., Haegert M., Lane D., Turner D., Nielsen I. (2008). New Constraints on the Asteroid 298 Baptistina, the Alleged Family Member of the K/T Impactor, accepted for publication in the JRASC
- ↑ M. Florczak et al. A Visible Spectroscopic Survey of the Flora Clan, Icarus Vol. 133, p. 233 (1998)
- ↑ Bottke WF, Vokrouhlický D Nesvorný D. (2007) An asteroid breakup 160 Myr ago as the probable source of the K/T impactor. Nature 449, 48-53
- ↑ "Space pile-up 'condemned dinos'". Sept. 5, 2007.
