2020 AV2

594913 ꞌAylóꞌchaxnim (provisional designation 2020 AV2) is a large near-Earth asteroid discovered by the Zwicky Transient Facility on 4 January 2020. It is the first asteroid discovered to have an orbit completely within Venus's orbit, and is thus the first and only known member of the provisionally named Vatira population of Atira-class asteroids. ꞌAylóꞌchaxnim has the smallest known aphelion and third-smallest known semi-major axis among all asteroids. With an absolute magnitude approximately 16.2, the asteroid is expected to be larger than 1 km in diameter.
ꞌAylóꞌchaxnim had likely originated from the main asteroid belt, where its orbit was locked in a secular resonance that caused its orbital eccentricity to gradually increase over time, evolving onto an Earth-crossing orbit. Subsequent close encounters with Earth, Venus, and Mercury resulted in gravitational perturbations of the asteroid's orbit, reducing its momentum and causing it to orbit closer to the Sun. Such inward orbital migration of objects is thought to be rare. Near-Earth asteroids transitioning into the Vatira region often have unstable, short-term orbits due to frequent gravitational perturbations by Venus and Mercury. ꞌAylóꞌchaxnim rarely crosses the orbits of Mercury and Venus, which reduces the number of close encounters with either planet that would otherwise perturb ꞌAylóꞌchaxnim's orbit. Nevertheless its orbit is likely to be stable for less than a million years, unless it is on (or enters soon) a nearby 3:2 mean-motion resonance with Venus, which could extend its stability to a few million years.
Category:Asteroids
Category:Near-Earth asteroids