(4769) Castalia

Template: Infobox Asteroid / Maintenance / Error 1

( 4769 ) is a near-Earth asteroid Castalia ( group of near-Earth objects ), which was discovered on August 9, 1989 by Eleanor F. Helin at the Palomar Observatory.

It is named after the nymph Castalia from Greek mythology.

Castalia moves at a distance of 0.5495 AU ( perihelion ) to 1.5770 AU ( aphelion ) in about 400 days around the sun. The orbital eccentricity is 0.4832, where the orbit is inclined 8.886 ° to the ecliptic.

In August 1989 Castalia pulled over in elffachem Moon distance to the Earth and could be observed by radar. It turned out that the asteroid is composed of two 800 meters high parts and has the shape of a peanut. Observations of other asteroids have shown that such double body are not uncommon. You can form when two larger objects collide at low speeds of a few centimeters per second to each other and stay connected.

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