3753 Cruithne

Project home: Cruinthe Asteroid 3753 Author: Burnrate Current version: 2009-08-17 Compatibility: Orbiter 2006, Orbiter 2010, Orbiter 2016

Cruinthe
Cruinthe in Orbiter
Designation
Name	Cruinthe
Reference body	Sun
Number of satellites	0
Planetary mean orbits
Epoch
Semimajor axis (a)	1.49257344448×108 km (0.997723722661 AU)
Eccentricity (e)	0.5148753565387774
Inclination (i)	0.34575447488 radian (19.810272158°)
Longitude of the ascending node (LAN, ☊)	2.20406746116 radian 126.2837632865°
Longitude of periapsis (ϖ)	2.96764675609 radian 170.033634209°
Mean longitude (L)	5.9410765786 radian 340.398613717°
Rotational Elements
Sidereal Rotation Period	98784 seconds (1.143333 days)
Sidereal Rotation Offset	0
Obliquity	0.1 radians 5.72958°
Selected physical parameters
Mean radius	1650 km
Mass	×10<su>23 kg
Density	4.05g/cm13
Equatorial gravity	0.00099 m/s-10
Escape velocity	1.81 m/s
Note	*Elements given are from Cruinthe.cfg file.

3753 Cruinthe, known in Orbiter simply as Cruinthe is an asteroid, belonging to the w:Aten asteroid group, in an elliptical solar orbit with almost a 1:1 resonance with the Earth, and was discovered on 10 October 1986 by w:Duncan Waldron. It's orbit takes Cruinthe from the orbit of Mercury to beyond that of Mars. In Orbiter, Cruinthe was added as an Add-on by Burnrate in 2009.

Physical Characteristics in Orbiter

Cruinthe has a diameter of about 3300 meters, and a mass of 4.05×10¹³ kg. The surface gravity is only about .00099 m/s² and escape velocity is about 1.8 m/s, so, one may be able to jump beyond escape velocity. When landing a spacecraft, it may touch down slightly above or below the surface.

Orbital Characteristics in Orbiter

Cruinthe revolves around the Sun at a distance of just under 1 AU, almost the same distance as the Earth, with an eccentricity of a bit over 0.5, resulting in an orbit that ranges from just outside that of Mercury out past that of Mars.

Orbiting the Sun in slightly under a year, the actual Cruinthe is in lockstep with Earth, approaching within about 12 million km, then drifting to the opposite side of the Sun from the Earth, to about the same distance on the other side of the Earth. It's unknown whether this phenomena is modeled in Orbiter.

Cruinthe rotates upon its axis in 98784 seconds, or 27^h 26^m 34^s.

The landing light of the DeltaGlider doesn't seem to work on Cruinthe.

See also

• Cruinthe at Wikipedia.

Gallery

• 

  Cruithne and Earth seem to follow each other because of a 1:1 orbital resonance.