55565 Aya
Hubble Space Telescope image of Aya taken in December 2005 | |
| Discovery | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | Palomar Obs. |
| Discovery site | Palomar Obs. |
| Discovery date | 10 January 2002 |
| Designations | |
| (55565) Aya | |
| Pronunciation | /ˈaɪə/ |
Named after | Aya |
| 2002 AW197 | |
| TNO · classical (hot) distant · Scat-Ext | |
| Orbital characteristics (barycentric) | |
| Epoch 25 February 2023 (JD 2460000.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 2 | |
| Observation arc | 27.15 yr (9,915 d) |
| Earliest precovery date | 29 December 1997 |
| Aphelion | 53.280 AU |
| Perihelion | 41.112 AU |
| 47.196 AU | |
| Eccentricity | 0.1289 |
| 324.02 yr (118,349 d) | |
| 299.003° | |
| 0° 0m 10.951s / day | |
| Inclination | 24.382° |
| 297.481° | |
| ≈ 5 May 2078 ±0.4 days | |
| 295.928° | |
| Known satellites | 0 |
| Physical characteristics | |
| 768+39 −38 km | |
| 8.86±0.01 h 8.78 h | |
| 0.112+0.012 −0.011 | |
| IR · (moderately red) B–V = 0.920±0.020 V–R = 0.560±0.020 V–I = 1.170±0.010 | |
| 20.0 | |
| 3.568±0.046 3.44 | |
55565 Aya (provisional designation 2002 AW197) is a large trans-Neptunian object in the classical Kuiper belt. It was discovered on 10 January 2002 by astronomers at Palomar Observatory.
Aya is a large object, most likely at least 700 km in diameter. It has a rotation period of 8.8 hours and has a moderately red color. The object's brightness does not significantly vary as it rotates, which indicates it is likely spheroidal.