3951 Zichichi, provisional designation , is a stony Florian
asteroid and
binary system
A binary system is a system of two astronomical bodies which are close enough that their gravitational attraction causes them to orbit each other around a barycenter ''(also see animated examples)''. More restrictive definitions require that th ...
from the inner 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 7 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 12 February 1986, by staff members at the
San Vittore Observatory
The San Vittore Observatory ( it, Osservatorio San Vittore, obs. code: 552) is an astronomical observatory in Bologna, Italy. In the years from 1975 to 1981 the San Vittore Observatory (Bologna) Italy participated to the International Plan ...
near Bologna, Italy, and named after physicist
Antonino Zichichi Antonino may refer to:
* Antonino (name), a given name and a surname (including a list of people with the name)
* Antonino, Kansas, an unincorporated community in Ellis County, Kansas, United States
See also
* Antoniano (disambiguation)
* Antoñ ...
.
Orbit and classification
''Zichichi'' is a
S-type asteroid
S-type asteroids are asteroids with a spectral type that is indicative of a siliceous (i.e. stony) mineralogical composition, hence the name. They have relatively high density. Approximately 17% of asteroids are of this type, making it the secon ...
and member of the
Flora family
The Flora family (''adj. Florian''; ; also known as ''Ariadne family'') is a prominent family of stony asteroids located in the inner region of the asteroid belt. It is one of the largest families with more than 13,000 known members, or approxi ...
, one of the largest collisional populations of stony asteroids in the main-belt. It orbits the Sun in the
inner
Interior may refer to:
Arts and media
* ''Interior'' (Degas) (also known as ''The Rape''), painting by Edgar Degas
* ''Interior'' (play), 1895 play by Belgian playwright Maurice Maeterlinck
* ''The Interior'' (novel), by Lisa See
* Interior de ...
main-belt at a distance of 1.9–2.7
AU once every 3 years and 7 months (1,307 days). Its orbit has 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 0.17 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 5
° 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 ...
.
Physical characteristics
A
minor-planet moon
A minor-planet moon is an astronomical object that orbits a minor planet as its natural satellite. , there are 457 minor planets known or suspected to have moons. Discoveries of minor-planet moons (and binary objects, in general) are importan ...
was discovered orbiting at a distance of 16 km in 2006, but not announced until 2011.
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 Italian nuclear physicist
Antonino Zichichi Antonino may refer to:
* Antonino (name), a given name and a surname (including a list of people with the name)
* Antonino, Kansas, an unincorporated community in Ellis County, Kansas, United States
See also
* Antoniano (disambiguation)
* Antoñ ...
.
The approved naming citation was published by the
Minor Planet Center on 20 May 1989 ().
References
External links
Asteroids with Satellites Robert Johnston, johnstonsarchive.net
Asteroid Lightcurve Database (LCDB) query form
)
Dictionary of Minor Planet Names Google books
– Observatoire de Genève, Raoul Behrend
– Minor Planet Center
*
*
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003951
003951
Named minor planets
003951
19860213