11885 Summanus


11885 Summanus, provisionally designated, is an asteroid and a near-Earth object of the Apollo group, approximately 1 kilometer in diameter.

Discovery and naming

Summanus was discovered on 25 September 1990, by Spacewatch survey at the Kitt Peak Observatory, southwest of Tucson, Arizona, United States. It was the first fully automatic discovery of a near-Earth asteroid. The name Summanus is symbolic of the discovery of the asteroid by software running on a computer.

Orbit

The orbit is well-established with over 20 years of observations. Summanus orbits the Sun in the inner main-belt at a distance of 0.9–2.5 AU once every 2 years and 3 months. Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.47 and an inclination of 19° with respect to the ecliptic.
The closest approach to the Earth in the years 1900–2200 is on 17 March 1991, and 17 March 2011. For comparison, the distance to the Moon is about.