(374158) 2004 UL
is a sub-kilometer asteroid on an outstandingly eccentric orbit, classified as near-Earth object and potentially hazardous asteroid of the Apollo group. The object is known for having the second-smallest perihelion of any known asteroid, after.
It was discovered on 18 October 2004 by the Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research at Lincoln Lab's ETS near Socorro, New Mexico.
Orbit and classification
This Apollo asteroid orbits the Sun at a distance of 0.09–2.44 AU once every 17 months. Its orbit has an outstandingly high eccentricity of 0.93 and an inclination of 24° with respect to the ecliptic.Due to its orbit, it is also a Mercury-crosser, Venus-crosser and Mars-crosser. It has an Earth minimum orbital intersection distance of, which translates into 7.1 lunar distances.
Physical characteristics
is an assumed stony S-type asteroid.In October 2014, a rotational lightcurve for this asteroid was obtained from photometric observations by American astronomer Brian Warner at the CS3–Palmer Divide Station in Landers, California. It gave a longer-than average rotation period of hours with a high brightness variation of 1.2 magnitude, indicating a non-spheroidal shape.
Based on a generic magnitude-to-diameter conversion, measures between 0.5 and 1.2 kilometers. The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo for stony asteroids of 0.20 and calculates a diameter of 0.516 kilometers with an absolute magnitude of 18.8.