[meteorite-list] Large Solar System Body Since Pluto Spotted

From: Matson, Robert <ROBERT.D.MATSON_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:31:24 2004
Message-ID: <AF564D2B9D91D411B9FE00508BF1C86904EE59D2_at_US-Torrance.mail.saic.com>

Hi Ron and List,

I did the precovery work on this Plutino last night (see MPEC
2004-D15:
<http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/mpec/K04/K04D15.html>

It took a bit of searching, but I eventually managed to find it
in early 2002 Palomar archive imagery. This discovery revealed
that the orbit was not circular but fairly elliptical (eccentricity
0.2177), and very similar to that of Pluto -- same semi-major axis,
slightly higher orbital inclination (20.547 degrees).

Once I had found it in one set of images from Palomar, it was easy
to find it in many others. I eventually extended the orbit back to
November 8, 1951! --Rob
Received on Fri 20 Feb 2004 12:08:15 PM PST