(612267) 2001 SG286
is a small, unnamed near-Earth asteroid orbiting in the inner Solar System. Classified as an Apollo asteroid, its orbit crosses Earth's. Like many near-Earth asteroids, it is thought to originate from the main asteroid belt, ejected into the inner Solar System through dynamical interactions with Jupiter and Saturn. Initially classified as a relatively rare D-type asteroid, more recent spectroscopic observations indicate it is instead a stony S-type asteroid. It was discovered on 27 September 2001 by the LINEAR survey at the Lincoln Laboratory's Experimental Test Site near Socorro, New Mexico. It was considered as a sample-return target for the Marco Polo and the MarcoPolo-2D mission concepts, but the proposals were rejected in 2010 and 2015, respectively.
Orbit
Orbiting at an average distance of 1.3583 astronomical units from the Sun, is classified as both an Apollo asteroid and a near-Earth asteroid. Over the course of its long orbit, its distance from the Sun varies from 0.8864 AU at perihelion to 1.8302 AU at aphelion. Its orbit is moderately elliptical, with an orbital eccentricity of 0.3474, and has an orbital inclination of 7.773° with respect to the ecliptic plane.NEAs are chaotic objects that have mean dynamical lifetimes shorter than the age of the Solar System. Over 10–100 million years, NEAs are removed through ejection into interstellar space or collisions with the inner planets. NEAs are then likely repopulated by fragments originating from the asteroid belt. Investigations of 's dynamical history, conducted through numerical integration models, indicate that it most likely originated through the destabilizing secular resonance with Saturn in the inner main belt. Another less probable source is through the 3:1 mean-motion resonance with Jupiter, located at about 2.5 AU. 's spectral type indicates an origin in the outer main belt, but dynamical models fail to reproduce its current position for an outer main belt origin. If originates from the outer main belt, then its orbit may have been influenced by the Yarkovsky effect until it reached either the secular resonance or 3:1 Jovian resonance. In the future, is likely to eventually collide with the Sun after encounters with the inner planets and interactions with the 3:1 Jovian resonance or both the 4:1 Jovian resonance and the secular resonance.
Physical characteristics
was initially classified under the spectral type D within the Bus–DeMeo classification scheme in a 2004 spectroscopic survey in the visible-wavelength range led by astronomer Richard P. Binzel. Using an assumed albedo of 0.09—typical for D-type asteroids—Binzel et al. calculated an estimated diameter of about for the asteroid. A followup study led by Marcel Popescu reaffirmed 's D-type classification using observations in both visible and near-infrared wavelengths. However, more accurate observations in 2024 revealed that 's spectrum is instead consistent with the more common S-type classification, with data from the 1-μm band indicative of an olivine–pyroxene composition. In previous studies, the 1-μm band was hidden by noise, leading to the earlier D-type classification. Using the average S-type albedo of 0.20, 's estimated diameter was recalculated as, with an uncertainty of.Analysis of 's lightcurve—variations in its observed brightness as it rotates—shows that it rotates once every 12.3 hours, with an uncertainty of 0.01 hours. This makes a slow rotator. Its lightcurve has an amplitude of 0.62 mag.