2201 Oljato
2201 Oljato, provisional designation, is a stony and extremely eccentric active asteroid and sizable near-Earth object of the Apollo group, approximately 2 kilometers in diameter. It has an Earth minimum orbit intersection distance of and is associated with the Beta Taurids daytime meteor shower.
Discovery
Oljato was discovered by American astronomer Henry L. Giclas at the U.S Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, on 12 December 1947. After its discovery, this near-Earth Apollo asteroid became a lost asteroid for 32 years and was recovered under the provisional designation, by the American astronomers Passey and Bus at the Californian Palomar Observatory in 1979.Orbit and classification
Oljato is a member of the Apollo asteroids, a subgroup of near-Earth asteroids which cross the orbit of Earth. It is also a potentially hazardous object due to its size and its Earth minimum orbit intersection distance of, which is only about 1.2 lunar distances. It orbits the Sun at a distance of 0.6–3.7 AU once every 3 years and 3 months. Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.71 and an inclination of 3° with respect to the ecliptic.It was a target of Hubble search for transition comets, a spectroscopic study involving amateur astronomers and the use of the Hubble Space Telescope. The asteroid belongs to the Taurid Complex , a group of near-Earth asteroids thought to be extinct cometary nuclei, that are associated with four meteor showers on Earth, due to their disintegration. The Taurid Complex includes several other Apollo asteroids such as 4183 Cuno, 4341 Poseidon, 5143 Heracles, and 5731 Zeus.