Binary NEA Candidate 1998 RO1


Updated 2002 October 3.

Orbit:

Aten, q = 0.277 AU, a = 0.991 AU, i = 22.7 deg (MPEC 2002-T01)

Observations made by the Ondrejov group and by the group of University of Western Ontario (led Peter Brown) on 2001 Sept. 18.9 and on 2002 Sept. 13.0, 13.3, 14.0, 15.9, and 28.8 reveal a lightcurve with a low amplitude short period (~2.6 h) variation and a superposed deep attenuations. This lightcurve character is typical for binary NEAs, see the list of known binary NEAs and references therein. A tentative solution for system's parameters suggests an orbital period of 1.82 d and D_s/D_p around 0.5, but more data are really needed to obtain a unique and reliable solution.

Fig. 1: Tentative composite lightcurve showing both the long period attenuations, supposed to be occultation/eclipse events, and the superposed short-period, low-amplitude variation due to the fast rotation of the primary.




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