From discovery to naming
Although the name was given this summer, the asteroid was discovered just over a decade ago. During this time, the discovery was confirmed by other observatories, it was actively observed, and its orbit was determined, says the scientist.
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“We discovered this asteroid on October 6, 2015, together with Dr. Ilgmārs Eglītis at the Baldone Astronomical Observatory in Latvia. At that time, we were still using the old observatory camera, which had a rather small field of view and was not the most suitable for asteroid searches. I remember that the weather conditions were poor at that time, so we could only conduct observations early in the morning and managed to take just three photos of this asteroid. The asteroid was very faint, and when the weather interrupted the observations, we already thought we had lost it.
However, after 8 days, our discovery was confirmed by the Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona. If we had not received such confirmation, it would have been very difficult to track this celestial body, so we were really lucky. The orbit of this asteroid is a highly elongated ellipse. Therefore, it can only be observed when it approaches Earth, and until then it travels too far and is too faint for us to notice. Moreover, it is quite small – only about 1 km in diameter,” the astronomer explains.
Will approach next summer
According to the database of the Minor Planet Center of the International Astronomical Union, the asteroid “Vaižgantas” is on average 2.6 times farther from the Sun than Earth, and it orbits the Sun in 4 years and 40 days. The orbital elements of the asteroid are: a = 2.562 AU, e = 0.274, i = 12.670°, P = 4.11 years. “Vaižgantas” will approach Earth again on June 16, 2027 – the closest distance will be about 151 million km. At that time, it will be about 20th magnitude. The asteroid will appear on the border of the constellations Aquila and Delphinus, when observing conditions in Lithuania will be among the most favorable.
The International Astronomical Union announced that the asteroid, whose provisional designation was 2019 RS14 (846464), was named “Vaižgantas” at the suggestion of Dr. K. Černius. The naming citation was published in 2026.
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