514107 Kaʻepaokaʻawela
514107 Kaʻepaokaʻāwela (/kəˌʔɛpə.oʊkə.ʔɑːˈvɛlə/), provisionally designated 2015 BZ509 and nicknamed Bee-Zed, is a small asteroid, approximately 3 km (2 mi) in diameter, in a resonant, co-orbital motion with Jupiter. It is an unusual minor planet in that its orbit is retrograde, which is opposite to the direction of most other bodies in the Solar System. It was discovered on 26 November 2014, by astronomers of the Pan-STARRS survey at Haleakala Observatory on the island of Maui, United States. Kaʻepaokaʻāwela is the first example of an asteroid in a 1:–1 resonance with any of the planets. This type of resonance had only been studied a few years before the object's discovery. One study suggests that it was an interstellar asteroid captured 4.5 billion years ago into an orbit around the Sun.
Retrograde orbit of Kaʻepaokaʻawela with 100-day motion markers | |
| Discovery | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | Pan-STARRS 1 |
| Discovery site | Haleakala Obs. |
| Discovery date | 26 November 2014 |
| Designations | |
MPC designation | (514107) 2015 BZ509 |
| Pronunciation | /kəˌɛpə.oʊkə.ɑːˈvɛlə/ Hawaiian: [kəˈʔɛpə.oˌkəʔaːˈvɛlə] |
Named after | Kaʻepaokaʻāwela ("the Jupiter trickster") |
Alternative designations | 2015 BZ509 Bee-Zed (nickname) |
Minor planet category | retrograde Jupiter co-orbital asteroid · unusual |
| Orbital characteristics | |
| Epoch 27 April 2019 (JD 2458600.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 2 | |
| Observation arc | 2.81 yr (1,026 d) |
| Aphelion | 7.0899 AU |
| Perihelion | 3.1889 AU |
Semi-major axis | 5.1394 AU |
| Eccentricity | 0.3795 |
Orbital period (sidereal) | 11.65 yr (4,256 d) |
Mean anomaly | 100.26° |
Mean motion | 0° 5m 4.56s / day |
| Inclination | 163.02° |
Longitude of ascending node | 307.42° |
| 257.48° | |
| Jupiter MOID | 0.2252 AU |
| TJupiter | -0.7460 |
| Physical characteristics | |
Mean diameter | 3 km (approx.) |
| 16.0 | |