The discovery and characterization of (594913) 'Ayló'chaxnim, a kilometre sized asteroid inside the orbit of Venus
Bryce Bolin, Tomás Ahumada, P van Dokkum, C. Fremling, Mikael Granvik, Kevin K. Hardegree-Ullman, Yuichi Harikane, Josiah Purdum, Eugene Serabyn, J. Southworth, Chengxing Zhai
Abstract
ABSTRACT Near-Earth asteroid population models predict the existence of bodies located inside the orbit of Venus. Despite searches up to the end of 2019, none had been found. We report discovery and follow-up observations of (594913) 'Ayló'chaxnim, an asteroid with an orbit entirely interior to Venus. (594913) 'Ayló'chaxnim has an aphelion distance of ∼0.65 au, is ∼2 km in diameter and is red in colour. The detection of such a large asteroid inside the orbit of Venus is surprising given their rarity according to near-Earth asteroid population models. As the first officially numbered and named asteroid located entirely within the orbit of Venus, we propose that the class of interior to Venus asteroids be referred to as 'Ayló'chaxnim asteroids.