2675 Tolkien

2675 Tolkien
Discovery [1]
Discovered by M. Watt
Discovery site Anderson Mesa Station
Discovery date 14 April 1982
Designations
MPC designation 2675 Tolkien
Named after
 J.R.R. Tolkien
(writer)[2]
1982 GB · 1934 VO
1937 RH · 1939 FR
1949 FO · 1950 QA1
1952 DX · 1969 JE
1969 KB · 1970 RB
1973 QX · 1975 BV
main-belt · Flora [3]
Orbital characteristics [1]
Epoch 13 January 2016 (JD 2457400.5)
Uncertainty parameter 0
Observation arc 77.97 yr (28478 days)
Aphelion 2.4387 AU (364.82 Gm)
Perihelion 1.9865 AU (297.18 Gm)
2.2126 AU (331.00 Gm)
Eccentricity 0.10219
3.29 yr (1202.1 d)
276.89°
0° 17m 58.056s / day
Inclination 2.7536°
5.9078°
1.9636°
Earth MOID 0.983301 AU (147.0997 Gm)
Jupiter MOID 2.9648 AU (443.53 Gm)
Jupiter Tisserand parameter 3.648
Physical characteristics
Dimensions 9.65±0.23 km[4]
10.96±0.19 km[5]
9.85 km (caculated)[3]
1,060 h (44 d)[6]
0.205±0.011[4]
0.213±0.021[5]
0.24 (assumed)[3]
SMASS = S
S [3]
12.2[1]

    2675 Tolkien, provisional designation 1982 GB, is a stony asteroid and extremely slow rotator from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, about 10 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 14 April 1982, by British astronomer Martin Watt at Lowell's Anderson Mesa Station in Flagstaff, Arizona.[7]

    The S-type asteroid is a member of the Flora family, one of the largest groups of stony asteroids in the main-belt. It orbits the Sun at a distance of 2.0–2.4 AU once every 3 years and 3 months (1,202 days). Its orbit shows an eccentricity of 0.10 and is tilted by 3 degrees to the plane of the ecliptic. According to the surveys carried out by the Japanese Akari satellite and the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent NEOWISE mission, the body has an albedo of 0.21, with the Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assuming a slightly higher value of 0.24.[3][4][5]

    In 2011, photometric light-curve measurements of 2675 Tolkien were taken over the course of twenty-three nights and revealed that the body is potentially an extremely slow rotator, that has an outstandingly long rotation period of 1058±30 hours, or 44 days, with a brightness amplitude of 0.1 in magnitude.[6] An asteroid typically takes only a few hours to rotate once around its axis. In addition, the body is suspected to be in a in non-principal axis rotation ("tumbling").[3] Observations were taken from the Via Capote Observatory (VCO) in California, the Czech Ondřejov Observatory, and the private Shed of Science Observatory (also known as S.O.S. Observatory), near the U.S. city of Minneapolis. (Also see § External links).

    The minor planet is named in honour of J.R.R. Tolkien (1892–1973), an English writer, philologist, and Merton professor of English language at the University of Oxford. He is best known as the author of the fantasy novels The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Tolkien also had a lifelong interest in astronomy.[2]

    References

    1. 1 2 3 "JPL Small-Body Database Browser: 2675 Tolkien (1982 GB)" (2015-09-03 last obs.). Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved 15 April 2016.
    2. 1 2 Schmadel, Lutz D. (2003). Dictionary of Minor Planet Names – (2675) Tolkien. Springer Berlin Heidelberg. p. 219. ISBN 978-3-540-29925-7. Retrieved December 2015.
    3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "LCDB Data for (2675) Tolkien". Asteroid Lightcurve Database (LCDB). Retrieved December 2015.
    4. 1 2 3 Usui, Fumihiko; Kuroda, Daisuke; Müller, Thomas G.; Hasegawa, Sunao; Ishiguro, Masateru; Ootsubo, Takafumi; et al. (October 2011). "Asteroid Catalog Using Akari: AKARI/IRC Mid-Infrared Asteroid Survey". Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan 63 (5): 1117–1138. Bibcode:2011PASJ...63.1117U. doi:10.1093/pasj/63.5.1117. Retrieved December 2015.
    5. 1 2 3 Masiero, Joseph R.; Mainzer, A. K.; Grav, T.; Bauer, J. M.; Cutri, R. M.; Nugent, C.; Cabrera, M. S. (November 2012). "Preliminary Analysis of WISE/NEOWISE 3-Band Cryogenic and Post-cryogenic Observations of Main Belt Asteroids". The Astrophysical Journal Letters 759 (1): 5. arXiv:1209.5794. Bibcode:2012ApJ...759L...8M. doi:10.1088/2041-8205/759/1/L8. Retrieved December 2015.
    6. 1 2 Durkee, Russell I.; Brinsfield, James W.; Hornoch, Kamil; Kuönirak, Petr (October 2011). "The Long Period of 2675 Tolkien". The Minor Planet Bulletin 38 (4): 182–183. Bibcode:2011MPBu...38..182D. ISSN 1052-8091. Retrieved December 2015.
    7. ↑ "2675 Tolkien (1982 GB)". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved December 2015.

    External links


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