Asteroids for Celestia

[gironde]

Asteroids update from JPL:
n° 720000 to 729999 (ssc + list with families)

asteroids numbered n°720000-729999 N=10000.zip

(519.54 KiB) Downloaded 415 times

[gironde]

Asteroids update from JPL:
n° 730000 to 739999 (ssc + list with families)

asteroids numbered n°730000-739999 N=10000.zip

(513.55 KiB) Downloaded 201 times

updated list of families in asteroids n°710000 to 719999

list 710000-719999 updated.zip

(48.44 KiB) Downloaded 199 times

updated list of families in asteroids n°700000 to 709999

list 700000-709999 updated.zip

(51.29 KiB) Downloaded 185 times

[SpaceExplorer]

99942 Apophis is a NEO/PHA discovered in 2004-Jun-19. Initially estimated to have a 2.7% chance of impacting Earth in 2029, subsequent refinement of its orbit ruled out any possibility of impact within the next 100 years. On 2029-Apr-13, Apophis will safely pass within 31,700 km of the Earth's surface.
NASA's OSIRIS-APEX spacecraft is already on its way to Apophis. Another mission, ESA's Ramses, will be launched in 2028.

This Apophis model is based on radar observations from 2012-2013, which are reported in the 2018 study.

[SpaceExplorer]

This addon adds the seven target main-belt asteroids of the planned UAE's MBR Explorer mission.
Scheduled to launch in March 2028, MBR Explorer will flyby over six asteroids between 2030 and 2033, with a rendezvous with 269 Justitia in 2034, in addition to deploying a Justitia lander.
The presence of tholins on Justitia's surface makes it an attractive target, given that it is a possible TNO that has migrated into the asteroid belt.

In numerical order, the seven asteroids are:

- 269 Justitia
- 623 Chimaera
- 10253 Westerwald
- 13294 Rockox
- (23871) 1998 RC76
- (59980) 1999 SG6
- (88055) 2000 VA28

Orbital parameters are from JPL HORIZONS. Includes light curve models for Justitia, Chimaera and 1999 SG6 from DAMIT database. Special thanks to pedro_jg for converting these models to CMOD and for obtaining color indices for the asteroids!

[SpaceExplorer]

This addon adds the target asteroids of the NASA's Lucy mission. Launched 2021-Oct-16, Lucy will flyby 2 main-belt asteroids and 6 Jupiter trojans during its 12-year mission.

The trojans are located at Jupiter's L4 and L5 points, orbiting in front or behind the planet. They are targets of interest given their primitive nature, being "fossils" of planetary formation in the early history of Solar System. In general, trojans have a low albedo and a reddish spectrum.

In numerical order, the Lucy targets are:

- 617 Patroclus and its satellite/companion, Menoetius (binary trojan)
- 3548 Eurybates and its satellite, Queta (trojan)
- 11351 Leucus (trojan)
- 15094 Polymele and its unnamed satellite, nicknamed "Shaun" (trojan)
- 21900 Orus (trojan)
- 52246 Donaldjohanson (MBA, possible binary?)
- 152830 Dinkinesh and its satellite, Selam (MBA)

This is a combination of the best and most recent physical and rotational parameters of these asteroids based on papers. The SSC files were originally created by pedro_jg, SevenSpheres and DaveBowman2001, and modified by me to include TCT colors and update some physical and rotational parameters, such as for Leucus, Orus and Donaldjohanson.

The Dinkinesh addon was made by Itzlmcool and domi9, and initially uploaded to mobi site.

[gironde]

Asteroids update from JPL:
n° 740000 to 749999 (ssc + list with families)

asteroids numbered n°740000-749999 N=10000.zip

(5.45 MiB) Downloaded 162 times

Asteroids update from JPL:
n° 750000 to 756999 (ssc + list with families)
(the asteroids 757000 to 759999 are not published by JPL at the moment)

asteroids numbered n°750000-756999 N=7000.zip

(5.26 MiB) Downloaded 171 times

[gironde]

to replace and complete the file concerning asteroids from 750000 to 756999 at this forum address viewtopic.php?p=163475#p163475, here is:

asteroids numbered n°750000-759999 N=10000.zip

(5.4 MiB) Downloaded 135 times

and also the next serie :

asteroids numbered n°760000-769999 N=10000.zip

(5.44 MiB) Downloaded 121 times

only restriction:
the orbital data comes from JPL and the information concerning the different families of asteroids comes from the wikipedia site https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_minor_planets:_720001–721000 and its associated pages.
At this time, the information on this wikipedia site is not yet completed from the asteroids 757000. This means that my lists of asteroids by family are provisional and only provide information from JPL (Main-Belt, Inner Belt, Outer Belt, Mars Crosser, TNO, ...). I hope to obtain this informations quickly enough to be able to make an update.

[SpaceExplorer]

2024 YR4 is a NEO, Apollo-type asteroid, discovered on 2024-Dec-27. It was initially estimated to have a considerable chance of colliding with Earth in 2032-Dec-22 (1-in-32 on 2025-Feb-18), placing it at level 3 on the Torino scale for a few weeks. However, with subsequent observations, the risk of an Earth impact has been reduced to effectively zero. However, it still has a 1-in-58 chance of impacting the Moon.
The next close approach to Earth will occur in December 2028, at a distance of about 8.000.000 km, where additional observations will help to further refine the asteroid's orbit for the 2032 approach. At 2032-Dec-22, the nominal closest approach distance to the Earth's surface is 255,600 km, while for the Moon it is approximately 3,700 km. However, it is important to note that the uncertainty is still more than 200,000 km.
Until recently, there has been large uncertainty about the size of YR4, with estimates placing it between 40 and 90 meters in diameter. Recent JWST observations estimate a diameter of 60±7 meters. Light curves obtained by other observatories indicate that YR4 has an elongated shape and a fast rotation period of only 19.5 minutes.

This addon is an update of the one previously made by Art Blos.

[SpaceExplorer]

5535 Annefrank is an S-type main-belt asteroid about 4.5 km in diameter, discovered in 1942-Mar-23. In 2002-Nov-2, it was visited by the Stardust spacecraft at a distance of 3,079 km while en route to comet Wild 2.

Original addon by Jack Higgins. This update includes TCT colors for the asteroid.

[SpaceExplorer]

9969 Braille is a Mars-crossing asteroid about 2.1 km in diameter, discovered in 1992-May-17. It was visited by the Deep Space 1 probe in 1999-Jul-29 at a distance of 26 km, but an failure of its instruments during the encounter prevented the probe from taking high-resolution images of its elongated surface, resulting in only a few indistinct images taken from 14,000 km away.

Original addon by Jack Higgins. This update includes TCT colors for the asteroid.

[gironde]

WARNING
There is a major error in the latest SSC files, starting with the asteroids from 757000 to 773916.
The Radius value is set to MBA, so it's zero.
I'm currently making changes and will provide corrections as soon as possible.

This is my publication 11.03.2025, 08:04

the files concerned are the ssc contained in the archives:
asteroids numbered n°750000-759999 N=10000.zip
asteroids numbered n°760000-769999 N=10000.zip

(757000 to 773916 not yet published)

[SpaceExplorer]

Apophis and Bienor have been updated, in the same original posts. TCT colors have been added.

[SpaceExplorer]

3200 Phaethon is an active asteroid, discovered in 1983-Oct-11 in data from the IRAS space telescope. Given its highly eccentric orbit, Phaethon comes within 0.14 AU of Sun at perihelion. It is also the parent body of the Geminids meteor shower that occurs in mid-December. It is the target of JAXA's DESTINY+ mission, with a high speed flyby planned in 2030.

Phaethon model from Celestia Origin. TCT colors added by me.

[gironde]

UPDATE 730000 to 739999

This update only concerns the family and group names commented in the ssc files as well as the names given to certain asteroids by the IAU.

asteroids numbered n°730000-739999 update 04-2025.zip

(527.69 KiB) Downloaded 5 times

note :
MBA-IMB = inner part Main Belt Asteroids
MBA-CMB = middle or central part of Main Belt Asteroids
MBA-OMB = outer part Main Belt Asteroids
OUP = outer periphery of Main Belt
INP = inner periphery of Main Belt