2006 RH120

2006 RH120 is an interplanetary object size from a few meters, which was temporarily captured by the gravitational potential of the Earth between September 2006 and June 2007 and incorporating it orbited four times. Currently located 2006 RH120 in an orbit around the sun. Its orbit brings the object again and again near the Earth, where there might be a temporary trapping again in the future.

The object was discovered as part of the Catalina Sky Survey on 14 September 2006 and initially received the internal identification number 6R10DB9. Path calculations showed that the object had a few days earlier passed its perigee in just double moon distance and apparently was in orbit around the Earth. As one might assume because of this web properties and the spectrum of the object, that it might be to space debris and thus an artificial object, it initially received no systematic name. By further astrometric observations, the heliocentric path could be determined more accurately. It turned out that the object in the years 1958, 1969, 1979 and 1992, the Earth - astronomically speaking - had passed close proximity. On 14 June 2007, the object approached at his last four rounds around the Earth at 0.7 lunar distances ( 277,000 kilometers ), and then left his orbit. The account of later studies of the radiation pressure of the sun on the body resulting conclusions on the ratio of surface area to mass proved to be typical of a natural object and spoke against the hypothesis that it is an artificial object. In February 2008, the object finally received its official designation by the IAU.

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