(434620) 2005 VD, provisional designation, is a centaur and damocloid on a retrograde orbit from the outer Solar System, known for having the second most highly inclined orbit of any small Solar System body, behind. It was the most highly inclined known object between 2005 and 2013. The unusual object measures approximately 6 km in diameter.

Description

This minor planet was discovered on 1 November 2005, by astronomers of the Mount Lemmon Survey at Mount Lemmon Observatory near Tucson, Arizona. Precovery images have been found by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) from September 2005 and December 2001.

Classification

has a semi-major axis greater than Jupiter and almost crosses the orbit of Jupiter when near perihelion. JPL lists it as a current centaur. Both the Deep Ecliptic Survey (DES), and the Minor Planet Center (MPC) have listed it as a centaur (qmin=~5AU) at different epochs. The DES and MPC will list as a centaur again in 2032. Lowell Observatory also has it listed as a damocloid object. makes occasional close approaches to Jupiter, coming only 0.0817 AU from Jupiter in 1903, 0.0445 AU in 2057, and 0.077 AU in 2093. However it made a close approach to Jupiter when it was only 0.309 AU away from it on 17 December 2022 which was the closest it could get to Jupiter for the decade.

Dynamics

Being a highly dynamic object, even among centaurs, 's orbit has visibly changed even since its discovery. Between 1600 and 2400, its semimajor axis will slowly increase from 6.64 to 6.96 AU, its eccentricity slowly increasing from 0.27 to 0.34, and a decreasing inclination from 176.7° to 169.9°. As such, until about 1870, was the most highly inclined known asteroid in the Solar System.