2903 Zhuhai, provisional designation , is a stony background or Marian

asteroid An asteroid is a minor planet of the inner Solar System. Sizes and shapes of asteroids vary significantly, ranging from 1-meter rocks to a dwarf planet almost 1000 km in diameter; they are rocky, metallic or icy bodies with no atmosphere. ...

from the central regions of the asteroid belt, approximately in diameter. It was discovered on 23 October 1981, by astronomers at

Purple Mountain Observatory The Purple Mountain Observatory (), also known as Zijinshan Astronomical Observatory is an astronomical observatory located on the Purple Mountain in the east of Nanjing. Description The Purple Mountain Observatory was established in 1934 fun ...

near Nanking, China. The S-type asteroid has a

rotation period The rotation period of a celestial object (e.g., star, gas giant, planet, moon, asteroid) may refer to its sidereal rotation period, i.e. the time that the object takes to complete a single revolution around its axis of rotation relative to the ...

of 5.26 hours. It was named for the Chinese city of Zhuhai.

Orbit and classification

Based on osculating Keplerian

orbital elements Orbital elements are the parameters required to uniquely identify a specific orbit. In celestial mechanics these elements are considered in two-body systems using a Kepler orbit. There are many different ways to mathematically describe the same ...

, ''Zhuhai'' has also been classified as a member of the

Maria family The Maria family (adj. ''Marian''; FIN: 506; also known as ''Roma family'') is a collisional asteroid family located in the inner parts of the intermediate asteroid belt, near the 1:3 Kirkwood gap. The family consist of several thousand stony S-ty ...

(), a large family of stony asteroids, named after 170 Maria. When applying the hierarchical clustering method to its

proper orbital elements __NOTOC__ The proper orbital elements or proper elements of an orbit are constants of motion of an object in space that remain practically unchanged over an astronomically long timescale. The term is usually used to describe the three quantitie ...

, the asteroid is both a non- family asteroid of the main belt's background population (according to Nesvorný), as well as a core member of the Maria family (according to Milani and Knežević). It orbits the Sun in the

central Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...

main-belt at a distance of 2.4–2.7 AU once every 4 years and 1 month (1,497 days;

semi-major axis In geometry, the major axis of an ellipse is its longest diameter: a line segment that runs through the center and both foci, with ends at the two most widely separated points of the perimeter. The semi-major axis (major semiaxis) is the long ...

of 2.56 AU). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.06 and an inclination of 14 ° with respect to the ecliptic. The body's observation arc begins with its first observation as at

Goethe Link Observatory The Goethe Link Observatory, observatory code 760, is an astronomical observatory near Brooklyn, Indiana, United States. It is owned by Indiana University and operated by the Indiana Astronomical Society https://iasindy.org/about.html, which eff ...

in June 1955, or 26 years prior to its official discovery observation at Nanking.

Physical characteristics

''Zhuhai'' has been characterized as a common, stony S-type asteroid by Pan-STARRS photometric survey.

Rotation period

Until 2012, three rotational lightcurves of ''Zhuhai'' have been obtained from photometric observations. Best-rated lightcurve from the Oakley Southern Sky Observatory gave a well-defined

of 5.263 hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.32 magnitude ().

Diameter and albedo

According to the surveys carried out by the Japanese Akari satellite and the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, ''Zhuhai'' measures between 13.58 and 14.01 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo between 0.146 and 0.276. The ''Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link'' assumes a standard albedo for stony asteroids of 0.20 and calculates a diameter of 13.58 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 11.7.

Naming

This minor planet was named after the city of located in the Guangdong province of southern China. The official naming citation was published by the

Minor Planet Center The Minor Planet Center (MPC) is the official body for observing and reporting on minor planets under the auspices of the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Founded in 1947, it operates at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. Function ...

on 11 March 1990 ().

References

External links

Asteroid Lightcurve Database (LCDB)
query form

)
Dictionary of Minor Planet Names
Google books

– Minor Planet Center * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Zhuhai 002903 002903 Named minor planets 19811023