Discovery, Observational Data and the Orbit of the Centaur Asteroid 2012 DS85

Abstract

Abstract A project for astrometric and photometric observations of asteroids at Mt. Graham Observatory with the VATT telescope is described. One of the most important results is a discovery of the Centaur 2012 DS85. Astrometric and photometric data on the asteroid are presented. The orbit of the asteroid was computed from 67 observations. Combined with its apparent brightness, the orbit gives an absolute magnitude of 9.43. Using a typical albedo value of 0.08 for Centaurs and TNOs (Moullet et al. 2011), we get a diameter of 2012 DS85 at about 61 km.