(285263) 1998 QE2

(285263) 1998 QE₂ is an Amor near-Earth asteroid 2.75 kilometers (1.71 mi) in diameter. It was discovered on August 19, 1998, by the Lincoln Near Earth Asteroid Research (LINEAR) program located near Socorro, New Mexico.1998 QE₂ has an observation arc of 14 years and a well-determined orbit.

Characteristics

The surface of (285263) 1998 QE₂ is covered with a sooty substance, suggesting that it might have previously been a comet that experienced a close encounter with the Sun. However, the Tisserand parameter with respect to Jupiter (T_J=3.2) does not make it obvious whether (285263) 1998 QE₂ was ever a comet. The asteroid is optically dark with an albedo of 0.06, meaning it absorbs 94% of the light that hits it. The asteroid is covered with craters and is dark, red, and primitive. As an Amor asteroid, the orbit of (285263) 1998 QE₂ is entirely beyond Earth's orbit. The Earth minimum orbit intersection distance (E-MOID) with the orbit of the asteroid is 0.035 AU (5,200,000 km; 3,300,000 mi). The asteroid has an orbital period of 3.77 years.

1998

1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (dominical letter D) of the Gregorian calendar, the 1998th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 998th year of the 2nd millennium, the 98th year of the 20th century, and the 9th year of the 1990s decade.

1998 was designated as:

Events

January

Queen Elizabeth 2

Queen Elizabeth 2, often referred to simply as QE2, is an ocean liner built for the Cunard Line which was operated by Cunard as both a transatlantic liner and a cruise ship from 1969 to 2008. She was designed for the transatlantic service from her home port of Southampton, UK, to New York, and was named after the earlier Cunard liner RMS Queen Elizabeth. She served as the flagship of the line from 1969 until succeeded by RMS Queen Mary 2 in 2004. Designed in Cunard's then headquarters and regional offices in Liverpool and Southampton respectively, and built in Clydebank, Scotland, she was considered the last of the great transatlantic ocean liners until the construction of the Queen Mary 2 was announced.

Before she was refitted with a diesel power plant in 1986/87, QE2 was also the last oil-fired passenger steamship to cross the Atlantic in scheduled liner service. During almost forty years of service, Queen Elizabeth 2 undertook regular world cruises and latterly operated predominantly as a cruise ship, sailing out of Southampton, England. QE2 had no running mate and never ran a year-round weekly transatlantic express service to New York. QE2 did, however, continue the Cunard tradition of regular scheduled transatlantic crossings every year of her service life. QE2 was never designated RMS, or Royal Mail Ship, instead carrying the SS and later MV or MS prefixes in official documents.