(276033) 2002 AJ129

(276033) 2002 AJ₁₂₉
	The orbit is highly elliptical, moving outside Mars and inside Mercury. Positions shown for 31 January 2018 before flyby.
Discovery
Discovered by	NEAT
Discovery site	Haleakala Obs.
Discovery date	15 January 2002
Designations
MPC designation	(276033) 2002 AJ129
Alternative designations	2002 AJ129
Minor planet category	Apollo; NEO; PHA; Mercury-crosser; Venus-crosser;
Orbital characteristics
	Epoch 4 September 2017 (JD 2458000.5)
	Uncertainty parameter 0
Observation arc	14.23 yr (5,199 days)
Aphelion	2.6254 AU
Perihelion	0.1167 AU
Semi-major axis	1.3711 AU
Eccentricity	0.9149
Orbital period (sidereal)	1.61 yr (586 days)
Mean anomaly	288.23°
Mean motion	0° 36m 50.04s / day
Inclination	15.449°
Longitude of ascending node	138.05°
Argument of perihelion	211.01°
Earth MOID	0.0060 AU (2.3 LD)
Physical characteristics
Mean diameter	0.5–1.2 km
Absolute magnitude (H)	18.7

(276033) 2002 AJ₁₂₉, provisional designation 2002 AJ₁₂₉, is a Mercury-crossing asteroid. It has the ninth-smallest perihelion of all numbered asteroids, after asteroids such as 2000 BD₁₉, 2004 UL, and 2008 XM.^[6] It makes close approaches to all of the inner planets^[3] and asteroid 4 Vesta.^[7] The asteroid is estimated to be between 0.5–1.2 kilometers (0.3–0.7 mi) across.^[5] In January 2018 there was much media hype about this asteroid being classified as a potentially hazardous asteroid, although there is no known threat of an impact for hundreds if not thousands of years. The media has compared the size of the asteroid to the Burj Khalifa in Dubai.^[8]

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[AstDys-4] Cite error: The named reference AstDys was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[NeoDys-5] Cite error: The named reference NeoDys was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[JPLcrosserlist-6] Cite error: The named reference JPLcrosserlist was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

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[Business-Insider-8] Cite error: The named reference Business-Insider was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

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