3563 Canterbury, provisional designation , is a dark Dorian

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 middle regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 16 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 23 March 1985, by astronomer couple Alan Gilmore and Pamela Kilmartin at

Mount John University Observatory University of Canterbury Mount John Observatory (UCMJO), previously known as Mt John University Observatory (MJUO), is New Zealand's premier astronomical research observatory. It is situated at ASL atop Mount John at the northern end of the ...

near Lake Tekapo, New Zealand. The asteroid was named after New Zealand's Canterbury Province.

Classification and orbit

Dora family

''Canterbury'' is a member of the Dora family, a large

asteroid family An asteroid family is a population of asteroids that share similar proper orbital elements, such as semimajor axis, eccentricity, and orbital inclination. The members of the families are thought to be fragments of past asteroid collisions. An a ...

of more than 1,200 carbonaceous asteroids, named after

668 Dora 668 Dora is an asteroid orbiting in 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 bodi ...

. It is also known as the "Zhongolovich family", named after its presumably largest member 1734 Zhongolovich. The Dora family may also contain a subfamily.

Orbit and observation arc

''Canterbury'' 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 2.3–3.3 AU once every 4 years and 8 months (1,703 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.18 and an inclination of 7 ° with respect to the ecliptic. The asteroid was first identified as at

Palomar Observatory Palomar Observatory is an astronomical research observatory in San Diego County, California, United States, in the Palomar Mountain Range. It is owned and operated by the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). Research time at the observat ...

, extending the body's observation arc by 7 years prior to its official discovery observation.

Physical characteristics

''Canterbury'' has been characterized as a dark C-type asteroid by Pan-STARRS photometric survey. It is also classified as a hydrated Ch-subtype in the SMASS taxonomy.

Rotation period

In October 2010, a rotational lightcurve of ''Canterbury'' was obtained from photometric observations by astronomers at the

Palomar Transient Factory The Palomar Transient Factory (PTF, obs. code: I41), was an astronomical survey using a wide-field survey camera designed to search for optical transient and variable sources such as variable stars, supernovae, asteroids and comets. The projec ...

in California. Lightcurve analysis gave 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 15.553 hours with a brightness variation of 0.61 magnitude ().

Diameter and albedo

According to the survey carried out by the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, ''Canterbury'' measures between 15.26 and 21.08 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo between 0.040 and 0.060. The ''Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link'' assumes a standard albedo for carbonaceous asteroids of 0.057 and calculates a diameter of 13.72 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 13.04.

Naming

This minor planet was named after New Zealand's Canterbury Province, on the eastern side of the South Island. It is also named for the

University of Canterbury The University of Canterbury ( mi, Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha; postnominal abbreviation ''Cantuar.'' or ''Cant.'' for ''Cantuariensis'', the Latin name for Canterbury) is a public research university based in Christchurch, New Zealand. It was ...

in Christchurch, New Zealand. The approved 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 28 May 1991 ().