(96590) 1998 XB
Encyclopedia
1998 XB is a near-Earth
minor planet
in the Aten group
. It was discovered through the Beijing Schmidt CCD Asteroid Program
at the Xinglong Station
in the Chinese province of Hebei
on December 1, 1998.
Near-Earth object
A near-Earth object is a Solar System object whose orbit brings it into close proximity with the Earth. All NEOs have a perihelion distance less than 1.3 AU. They include a few thousand near-Earth asteroids , near-Earth comets, a number of solar-orbiting spacecraft, and meteoroids large enough to...
minor planet
Minor planet
An asteroid group or minor-planet group is a population of minor planets that have a share broadly similar orbits. Members are generally unrelated to each other, unlike in an asteroid family, which often results from the break-up of a single asteroid...
in the Aten group
Aten asteroid
The Aten asteroids are a group of near-Earth asteroids, named after the first of the group to be discovered . They are defined by having semi-major axes of less than one astronomical unit...
. It was discovered through the Beijing Schmidt CCD Asteroid Program
Beijing Schmidt CCD Asteroid Program
The BAO Schmidt CCD Asteroid Program or Beijing Schmidt CCD Asteroid Program or SCAP is/was a project organized on May 1995 by the Beijing Astronomical Observatory and funded by the Chinese Academy of Science...
at the Xinglong Station
Xinglong Station (NAOC)
Xinglong Station is an observatory situated south of the main peak of the Yanshan mountains in Hebei province, China. Installed are seven telescopes: a Mark-III photoelectric astrolabe; a 60cm reflector; an 85cm reflector; a 60/90cm Schmidt telescope; an 1.26m infrared telescope; and a 2.16m...
in the Chinese province of Hebei
Hebei
' is a province of the People's Republic of China in the North China region. Its one-character abbreviation is "" , named after Ji Province, a Han Dynasty province that included what is now southern Hebei...
on December 1, 1998.