4177 Kohman, provisional designation , is a resonant Griqua
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.
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from the outermost regions of the asteroid belt, approximately in diameter. It was discovered on 21 September 1987, by American astronomer Edward Bowell at the Anderson Mesa Station of the
Lowell Observatory
Lowell Observatory is an astronomical observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, United States. Lowell Observatory was established in 1894, placing it among the oldest observatories in the United States, and was designated a National Historic Landmark ...
near Flagstaff, Arizona, in the United States. The asteroid was named for American nuclear chemist Truman Kohman.
Orbit and classification
''Kohman'' is a non- family asteroid from the main belt's background population, and a member of the small group of
Griqua asteroid A Hecuba-gap asteroid is a member of a dynamical group of resonant asteroids located in the Hecuba gap at 3.27 AU – one of the largest Kirkwood gaps in the asteroid belt, which is considered the borderline separating the outer main belt as ...
s, located in the
Hecuba gap
A Kirkwood gap is a gap or dip in the distribution of the semi-major axes (or equivalently of the orbital periods) of the orbits of main-belt asteroids. They correspond to the locations of orbital resonances with Jupiter.
For example, there a ...
and locked in a 2:1 mean-motion resonance with the gas giant Jupiter. Contrary to the nearby Zhongguo asteroids, the orbits of the Griquas are less stable with a much shorter lifetime.
It orbits the Sun in the