(11778) Kingsford Smith

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Asteroid
(11778) Kingsford Smith
Properties of the orbit ( animation )
Epoch:  4th November 2013 ( JD 2,456,600.5)
Orbit type Inner main belt asteroid
Major semi-axis 2.1608  AU
eccentricity 0.0618
Perihelion - aphelion 2.0273 AU - 2.2943 AU
Inclination of the orbit plane 4.1428 °
Length of the ascending node 66.1350 °
Argument of the periapsis 41.2446 °
Sidereal period 3.18 a
Mean orbital velocity 20.26 km / s
Physical Properties
Absolute brightness 15.1 mag
history
Explorer Cornelis Johannes van Houten ,
Ingrid van Houten-Groeneveld ,
Tom Gehrels
Date of discovery October 16, 1977
Another name 4102 T-3 , 1998 FT 76
Source: Unless otherwise stated, the data comes from JPL Small-Body Database Browser . The affiliation to an asteroid family is automatically determined from the AstDyS-2 database . Please also note the note on asteroid items.

(11778) Kingsford Smith is an asteroid of the main inner belt that was discovered on October 16, 1977 by the Dutch astronomer couple Cornelis Johannes van Houten and Ingrid van Houten-Groeneveld . The discovery took place during the 3rd Trojan survey, during which Tom Gehrels surveyed field plates recorded by the 120 cm Oschin Schmidt telescope of the Palomar observatory at the University of Leiden , 17 years after the start of the Palomar-Leiden- Surveys .

Mean solar distance ( major semi-axis ), eccentricity and inclination of the orbit plane of the asteroid correspond to the Flora family, a large group of asteroids named after (8) Flora . Asteroids of this family move in a 4: 9 orbital resonance with the planet Mars around the sun . The group is also called the Ariadne family, after the asteroid (43) Ariadne . According to the SMASS classification ( Small Main-Belt Asteroid Spectroscopic Survey ), a spectroscopic study by Gianluca Masi , Sergio Foglia and Richard P. Binzel at (11778) Kingsford Smith assumed a bright surface, so roughly speaking it could be be an S-asteroid .

(11778) Kingsford Smith was named on May 1, 2003 after the Australian aviation pioneer Charles Kingsford Smith .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Gianluca Masi, Sergio Foglia, Richard P. Binzel: Search for Unusual Spectroscopic Candidates Among 40313 minor planets from the 3rd Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Moving Object Catalog . (English)
  2. subdivision of asteroids to S-types, C-types and V-types (English)