691 Lehigh is a
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 ''minor ...
(the earlier term for an asteroid) orbiting the
Sun
The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect ball of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core. The Sun radiates this energy mainly as light, ultraviolet, and infrared radi ...
, discovered in 1909.
It is named "Lehigh" after
Lehigh University
Lehigh University (LU) is a private research university in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania. The university was established in 1865 by businessman Asa Packer and was originally affiliated with the Epis ...
, where its orbit was calculated in the Masters Thesis of Joseph B. Reynolds, following the observations of amateur astronomer
Joel Metcalf.
References
External links
Planet Lehigh: Early Astronomy Lehigh University – Special Collections
Lightcurve plot of 691 Lehigh Palmer Divide Observatory,
B. D. Warner (2009)
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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Background asteroids
Lehigh
Lehigh
Lehigh University
CD:-type asteroids (Tholen)
19091211
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