284996 Rosaparks
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284996 Rosaparks, provisional designation ', is a dark background asteroid from the outer regions of the
asteroid belt The asteroid belt is a torus-shaped region in the Solar System, located roughly between the orbits of the planets Jupiter and Mars. It contains a great many solid, irregularly shaped bodies, of many sizes, but much smaller than planets, c ...
, approximately in diameter. It was discovered on 9 June 2010 by scientists working with data from the
Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE, observatory code C51, Explorer 92 and SMEX-6) is a NASA infrared astronomy space telescope in the Explorers Program. It was launched in December 2009, and placed in hibernation mode in February 201 ...
spacecraft. It is named after
Rosa Parks Rosa Louise McCauley Parks (February 4, 1913 – October 24, 2005) was an American activist in the civil rights movement best known for her pivotal role in the Montgomery bus boycott. The United States Congress has honored her as "th ...
, the African-American
civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life o ...
activist. It features in an
episode An episode is a narrative unit within a larger dramatic work or documentary production, such as a series intended for radio, television or streaming consumption. The noun ''episode'' is derived from the Greek term ''epeisodion'' (), meaning th ...
of the British science fiction television series '' Doctor Who''.


Orbit and classification

''Rosaparks'' is a non-
family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...
asteroid from the main-belt's background population. It orbits the Sun in the outer asteroid belt at a distance of 2.7–3.5  AU once every 5 years and 7 months (2,033 days). Its orbit has a semi-major axis of 3.14 AU), an
eccentricity Eccentricity or eccentric may refer to: * Eccentricity (behavior), odd behavior on the part of a person, as opposed to being "normal" Mathematics, science and technology Mathematics * Off-Centre (geometry), center, in geometry * Eccentricity (g ...
of 0.13 and an
inclination Orbital inclination measures the tilt of an object's orbit around a celestial body. It is expressed as the angle between a reference plane and the orbital plane or axis of direction of the orbiting object. For a satellite orbiting the Eart ...
of 12 ° with respect to the
ecliptic The ecliptic or ecliptic plane is the orbital plane of the Earth around the Sun. From the perspective of an observer on Earth, the Sun's movement around the celestial sphere over the course of a year traces out a path along the ecliptic agains ...
. The body's
observation arc In observational astronomy, the observation arc (or arc length) of a Solar System body is the time period between its earliest and latest observations, used for tracing the body's path. It is usually given in days or years. The term is mostly use ...
begins with a precovery taken by the
Near-Earth Asteroid Tracking Near-Earth Asteroid Tracking (NEAT) was a program run by NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, surveying the sky for near-Earth objects. NEAT was conducted from December 1995 until April 2007, at GEODSS on Hawaii (Haleakala-NEAT; 566), as we ...
program in February 2004, more than six years prior to its official discovery observation by the
Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE, observatory code C51, Explorer 92 and SMEX-6) is a NASA infrared astronomy space telescope in the Explorers Program. It was launched in December 2009, and placed in hibernation mode in February 201 ...
(WISE).


Naming

This
minor planet According to the International Astronomical Union (IAU), a minor planet is an astronomical object in direct orbit around the Sun that is exclusively classified as neither a planet nor a comet. Before 2006, the IAU officially used the term ''mino ...
was named after
Rosa Parks Rosa Louise McCauley Parks (February 4, 1913 – October 24, 2005) was an American activist in the civil rights movement best known for her pivotal role in the Montgomery bus boycott. The United States Congress has honored her as "th ...
(1913–2005), the
African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...
civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life o ...
activist. The official was published by the Minor Planet Center on 9 September 2014 ().


Physical characteristics

Like most asteroids from the outer main-belt, ''Rosaparks'' has a low albedo ''(see below)'', indicating a
carbonaceous Carbon () is a chemical element with the symbol C and atomic number 6. It is nonmetallic and tetravalent—its atom making four electrons available to form covalent chemical bonds. It belongs to group 14 of the periodic table. Carbon makes up ...
composition. The body's
spectral type In astronomy, stellar classification is the classification of stars based on their spectral characteristics. Electromagnetic radiation from the star is analyzed by splitting it with a prism or diffraction grating into a spectrum exhibiting the ...
has not been determined. According to the survey carried out by the
NEOWISE Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE, observatory code C51, Explorer 92 and SMEX-6) is a NASA infrared astronomy space telescope in the Explorers Program. It was launched in December 2009, and placed in hibernation mode in February 201 ...
mission of NASA's WISE telescope, ''Rosaparks'' measures 3.512 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an
albedo Albedo (; ) is the measure of the diffuse reflection of solar radiation out of the total solar radiation and measured on a scale from 0, corresponding to a black body that absorbs all incident radiation, to 1, corresponding to a body that refl ...
of 0.099. As of 2018, no rotational
lightcurve In astronomy, a light curve is a graph of light intensity of a celestial object or region as a function of time, typically with the magnitude of light received on the y axis and with time on the x axis. The light is usually in a particular freq ...
has been obtained from photometric observations. The body's rotation period,
pole Pole may refer to: Astronomy *Celestial pole, the projection of the planet Earth's axis of rotation onto the celestial sphere; also applies to the axis of rotation of other planets *Pole star, a visible star that is approximately aligned with the ...
and shape remain unknown.


In popular media

During the UK's
Black History Month Black History Month is an annual observance originating in the United States, where it is also known as African-American History Month. It has received official recognition from governments in the United States and Canada, and more recently ...
in 2018, the asteroid featured in the television series '' Doctor Who''. In the final scene of the episode "
Rosa Rosa or De Rosa may refer to: People *Rosa (given name) * Rosa (surname) * Santa Rosa (female given name from Latin-a latinized variant of Rose) Places * 223 Rosa, an asteroid *Rosa, Alabama, a town, United States * Rosa, Germany, in Thuringia, ...
", after witnessing Rosa Parks's arrest for refusing to give up her seat on a
Montgomery, Alabama Montgomery is the capital city of the U.S. state of Alabama and the county seat of Montgomery County. Named for the Irish soldier Richard Montgomery, it stands beside the Alabama River, on the coastal Plain of the Gulf of Mexico. In the 202 ...
passenger bus, the
Thirteenth Doctor The Thirteenth Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor, the fictional protagonist of the BBC science fiction television programme, ''Doctor Who''. She is portrayed by English actress Jodie Whittaker, the first woman to portray the character, st ...
takes the
TARDIS The TARDIS (; acronym for "Time And Relative Dimension In Space") is a fictional hybrid of the time machine and spacecraft that appears in the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'' and its various spin-offs. Its exterior a ...
to the asteroid belt and shows her companions the object that has been named in Parks's honour.


References


External links


Dictionary of Minor Planet Names
Google books

– Minor Planet Center * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rosaparks 284996 284996 Named minor planets 20100609