1685 Toro
1685 Toro is an asteroid and near-Earth object of the Apollo group on an eccentric orbit. It was discovered on 17 July 1948, by American astronomer Carl Wirtanen at Lick Observatory on Mount Hamilton, California. The stony S-type asteroid has a rotation period of 10.2 hours and measures approximately in diameter. It is named for Betulia Toro Herrick, wife of astronomer Samuel Herrick.
Classification and orbit
Toro is an Apollo asteroid, a subgroup of near-Earth asteroids that cross the orbit of Earth. It orbits the Sun at a distance of 0.8–2.0 AU once every 584 days. Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.44 and an inclination of 9° with respect to the ecliptic.This asteroid's orbit also shows a 5:8 resonance with Earth and a near 5:13 resonance with Venus. This near resonance results from Earth and Venus being in a near 8:13 resonance with each other. It was the third Apollo asteroid to be discovered. The current resonance with Earth will last for only a few thousand years. Calculations show that Toro will leave it in 2960 CE, and that it will enter the region of 5:13 resonance with Venus in 3470 CE. This is because the distance from Earth's orbit will become larger and that from Venus's orbit smaller. A study of long-term stability shows that the alternating resonances will possibly be broken roughly 3 million years from now because of close approaches between Toro and Mars.
Toros Earth minimum orbit intersection distance of, is just above the 0.05 AU requirement to be listed as a potentially hazardous asteroid. With an orbital uncertainty U = 0, its orbit and future close approaches are well determined.
Toro's orbit may be similar to that of the Sylacauga meteorite, the first meteorite authenticated to have struck a human.