25143 Itokawa

25143 Itokawa
	Image of Itokawa from the Hayabusa spacecraft
Discovery
Discovered by	LINEAR
Discovery site	Lincoln Lab's ETS
Discovery date	26 September 1998
Designations
MPC designation	(25143) Itokawa
Pronunciation	/ˌiːtoʊˈkɑːwə/; Japanese: [itoꜜkawa]
Named after	Hideo Itokawa
Alternative designations	1998 SF36
Minor planet category	Apollo; NEO; PHA;
Orbital characteristics
	Epoch 27 April 2019 (JD 2458600.5)
	Uncertainty parameter 0
Observation arc	20.38 yr (7,443 d)
Aphelion	1.6951 AU
Perihelion	0.9532 AU
Semi-major axis	1.3241 AU
Eccentricity	0.2801
Orbital period (sidereal)	1.52 yr (557 d)
Mean anomaly	288.88°
Mean motion	0° 38m 48.48s / day
Inclination	1.6214°
Longitude of ascending node	69.081°
Argument of perihelion	162.82°
Earth MOID	0.0131 AU (5.10 LD)
Physical characteristics
Dimensions	535 m × 294 m × 209 m
Mean diameter	313 m; 330 m; 350 m
Mass	(3.51±0.105)×1010 kg; (3.58±0.18)×1010 kg
Mean density	1.9±0.13 g/cm3; 1.95±0.14 g/cm3
Synodic rotation period	12.132 h
Geometric albedo	0.23; 0.283±0.116; 0.36±0.22; 0.53
Spectral type	SMASS = S (IV); Sqw; S; Q;
Absolute magnitude (H)	18.61 · 18.95 (R); 19.00 · 19.2; 19.48 · 19.51±0.09

25143 Itokawa (provisional designation 1998 SF₃₆) is a sub-kilometer near-Earth object of the Apollo group and a potentially hazardous asteroid. It was discovered by the LINEAR program in 1998 and later named after Japanese rocket engineer Hideo Itokawa.^[1] The peanut-shaped S-type asteroid has a rotation period of 12.1 hours and measures approximately 330 meters (1,100 feet) in diameter. Due to its low density and high porosity, Itokawa is considered to be a rubble pile, consisting of numerous boulders of different sizes rather than of a single solid body.

It was the first asteroid to be the target of a sample-return mission, of the Japanese space probe Hayabusa, which collected more than 1500 regolith dust particles from the asteroid's surface in 2005. Since its return to Earth in 2010, the mineralogy, petrography, chemistry, and isotope ratios of these particles have been studied in detail, providing insights into the evolution of the Solar System. Itokawa was the smallest asteroid to be photographed and visited by a spacecraft prior to the DART mission to Dimorphos in 2022.

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^ S. M. Lederer, et al., "Physical characteristics of Hayabusa target Asteroid 25143 Itokawa", Icarus, v. 173, pp. 153–165 (2005)
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[MPC-object-1] Cite error: The named reference MPC-object was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[springer-2] Cite error: The named reference springer was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[jpldata-3] Cite error: The named reference jpldata was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[Fujiwara-2006-4] Cite error: The named reference Fujiwara-2006 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[Mueller-2011a-5] Cite error: The named reference Mueller-2011a was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

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[Lederer2005-11] S. M. Lederer, et al., "Physical characteristics of Hayabusa target Asteroid 25143 Itokawa", Icarus, v. 173, pp. 153–165 (2005)

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[Carry-2016-13] Cite error: The named reference Carry-2016 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

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[Nishihara-2005-15] Cite error: The named reference Nishihara-2005 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

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