| Minorplanet: | yes |
| Background: |
|
| Discoverer: | 30 October 1999 by LINEAR |
| Discovered: | 30 October 1999 |
| Discovery Site: | Socorro |
| Alt Names: | 2002 AC180 |
| Orbit Ref: | [1] |
| Epoch: | 13 January 2016 (JD 2457400.5) |
| Aphelion: | 1.5843517abbr=onNaNabbr=on |
| Perihelion: | 1.4644704AU |
| Semimajor: | 1.524411AU |
| Eccentricity: | 0.0393206 |
| Period: | 1.88 yr (687.47 d) |
| Inclination: | 16.75044° |
| Asc Node: | 347.37714° |
| Mean Anomaly: | 229.9277° |
| Arg Peri: | 48.35771° |
| Dimensions: | ~1 km |
| Spectral Type: | X |
| Abs Magnitude: | 16.9 |
| Mean Motion: | / day |
| Observation Arc: | 21861 days (59.85 yr) |
| Uncertainty: | 0 |
| Moid: | 0.47372AU |
| Jupiter Moid: | 3.49473AU |
is a small asteroid orbiting near the of Mars (60 degrees ahead Mars on its orbit).[2] As of April 2024, it is one of only two known asteroids to orbit the leading of Mars — the other being [3] — although at least 15 other asteroids orbit Mars's trailing : The largest being 5261 Eureka,, and .[2] Not only does orbit on the other side of Mars from other similar asteroids, its spectrum is different as well, which is puzzling because all of the Martian trojans seem to be in very stable orbits.
orbits around the of Mars in a very stable orbit and is large enough that the Yarkovsky effect will not affect its orbit.[2]
Due to similarity in the measured brightness of with other Martian trojans, it is thought to be a small asteroid with an effective diameter on the order of 1km (01miles).[2] Its spectrum suggests that it is an X-type asteroid, which is different from 5261 Eureka and,[4] and is somewhat puzzling since different mineral compositions suggest different origins for the two groups of asteroids. The long lifetime of the orbits for these asteroids makes the possibility of one or more of them being interlopers unlikely, however. This suggests that either one or more of the Martian trojans was captured in such a way as to give it a long-term stable orbit (and it is therefore not a primordial Martian asteroid), or that some fusion or combination of previous asteroids resulted in the presently observed ones.[4] The Yarkovsky effect may provide a potential capture mechanism but not enough is known about the shapes of these objects to provide a useful Yarkovsky model.[4]