1998 ML14
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Discoverer |
LINEAR 1998 |
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Diameter (km) |
0.9 - 2.0 |
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Mass (kg) |
? |
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Rotation period (hrs) |
~15 |
|
Orbital period (yrs) |
3.75624 |
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Semimajor axis (AU) |
2.41630 |
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Orbital eccentricity |
0.61651 |
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Orbital Inclination (deg) |
2.46957 |
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Albedo |
? |
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Type |
? |
| Asteroid 1998 ML14 was discovered on 1998 June 24 by the Lincoln Near Earth Asteroid Research (LINEAR) project at the Lincoln Laboratories Experimental Test Site. It was discovered that it would pass about 0.02 AU (about 3 million kilometers) from the Earth on 1998 August 11, close enough to be observed by the Arecibo Planetary Radar and by the Goldstone Solar System Radar. It was within the part of the sky visible with the Arecibo observatory from August 15 through 18, when it was still less than 10 million miles away. Even at this distance, the Arecibo Planetary Radar can obtain images at up to 7 meter resolution. The highest resolution in these experiments was 30 meters. Before the radar observations, 1998 ML14 was estimated to be about 1 km in diameter. Hicks and Weissman measured a rotation period of about 15 hours, relatively long, but not unusually so. In the images, the asteroid appears to be approximately round, with some lumps and large craters. As the data are processed, scientists should be able to distinguish more detail. |
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Images of 1998 ML14 |
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Last updated: March 15, 2002.
