7066 Nessus

7066 Nessus
Discovery
Discovered by Spacewatch
(D. Rabinowitz uncredited)
Discovery site Kitt Peak National Obs.
Discovery date 26 April 1993
Designations
MPC designation (7066) Nessus
Named after
 Nessus (Greek mythology)
1993 HA2
Centaur
Adjectives Nessian
Orbital characteristics[1]
Epoch 31 July 2016 (JD 2457600.5)
Uncertainty parameter 2
Observation arc 4048 days (11.08 yr)
Aphelion 37.281 AU (5.5772 Tm)
Perihelion 11.76323 AU (1.759754 Tm)
24.522 AU (3.6684 Tm)
Eccentricity 0.52030
121.44 yr (44354 d)
5.57 km/s
72.524°
0° 0m 29.257s / day (n)
Inclination 15.66868°
31.1557°
170.478°
Jupiter MOID 6.30351 AU (942.992 Gm)
TJupiter 3.781
Physical characteristics
Dimensions 60±16 km [2][3]
0.06 [2]
~ 23.4[4]
9.6[1]

    7066 Nessus (/ˈnɛsəs/; from Νέσσος) is a centaur (a type of icy minor planet) that was discovered by David L. Rabinowitz, working with Spacewatch, at Kitt Peak on 26 April 1993. It was the second centaur found by him (5145 Pholus being his previous find), and the third centaur discovery (2060 Chiron, discovered by Charles Kowal in 1977, was the first). Nessus was officially announced on May 13, 1993, in IAUC 5789 with designation 1993 HA2.

    Orbit

    7066 Nessus has an orbital period of 121.4 years, an eccentricity of 0.52 and an inclination to the ecliptic of 15.6 degrees. At perihelion, it moves much closer to the Sun than Uranus, while at aphelion it moves out well beyond the orbit of Neptune.

    The orbits of centaurs are unstable due to perturbations by the giant planets. Nessus is an "SE object" because currently Saturn controls its perihelion and its aphelion is within the Edgeworth–Kuiper belt.[5] Nessus is estimated to have a relatively long orbital half-life of about 4.9 Myr.[5] Fifty clones of the orbit of Nessus suggest that Nessus will not pass within 1AU (150 Gm) of a planet for at least twenty thousand years.[6]

    Nessus is an in-game location within the 2018 video game Destiny 2. However, Nessus as portrayed in the game is more similar to a planet than a small rocky/icy body, and has a substantial atmosphere and complex alien life. These differences are attributed to terraforming by the being known as the Traveler, a God-like entity responsible for much of the terraforming that has occurred across the solar system. Since the collapse of humanity and their Golden age, an extraterrestrial robotic entity called the Vex, one of the many enemy factions have taken hold of the planet and begun transforming it into their own machine world, giving Nessus both its organic yet robotic aesthetic.

    References

    1. 1 2 "JPL Small-Body Database Browser: 7066 Nessus (1993 HA2)" (2004-05-26 last obs). Retrieved 13 April 2016.
    2. 1 2 John Stansberry; Will Grundy; Mike Brown; Dale Cruikshank; John Spencer; David Trilling; Jean-Luc Margot (2007). "Physical Properties of Kuiper Belt and Centaur Objects: Constraints from Spitzer Space Telescope". arXiv:astro-ph/0702538.
    3. ↑ Wm. Robert Johnston (22 August 2008). "List of Known Trans-Neptunian Objects". Johnston's Archive. Archived from the original on 17 September 2008. Retrieved 2008-09-05.
    4. ↑ "AstDys (7066) Nessus Ephemerides". Department of Mathematics, University of Pisa, Italy. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
    5. 1 2 Horner, J.; Evans, N.W.; Bailey, M. E. (2004). "Simulations of the Population of Centaurs I: The Bulk Statistics". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 354 (3): 798–810. arXiv:astro-ph/0407400. Bibcode:2004MNRAS.354..798H. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2004.08240.x.
    6. ↑ "Fifty clones of Centaur 7066 Nessus making passes within 150Gm". Archived from the original on 2013-02-22. Retrieved 2009-04-26.
      "The SOLEX page". Archived from the original on 2009-04-29.
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