7092 Cadmus, provisional designation , is a highly eccentric
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.
...
and
near-Earth object
A near-Earth object (NEO) is any small Solar System body whose orbit brings it into proximity with Earth. By convention, a Solar System body is a NEO if its closest approach to the Sun (perihelion) is less than 1.3 astronomical units (AU). ...
of the
Apollo group
Apollo Education Group, Inc. is an American corporation based in the South Phoenix area of Phoenix, Arizona, with an additional corporate office in Chicago, Illinois.
The company owns and operates several higher-learning institutions, including ...
, approximately 3 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 4 June 1992, by American astronomer couple
Carolyn
Carolyn is a female given name, a variant of Caroline. Other spellings include Karolyn, Carolyne, Carolynn or Carolynne. Caroline itself is one of the feminine forms of Charles.
List of Notable People
*Carolyn Bennett (born 1950), Canadian pol ...
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 ...
in California, United States. The asteroid was named after
Cadmus
In Greek mythology, Cadmus (; grc-gre, Κάδμος, Kádmos) was the legendary Phoenician founder of Boeotian Thebes. He was the first Greek hero and, alongside Perseus and Bellerophon, the greatest hero and slayer of monsters before the da ...
from Greek mythology.
Orbit and classification
''Cadmus'' 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 0.8–4.3 AU once every 4.04 years (1,474 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.70 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 Plane of reference, reference plane and the orbital plane or Axis of rotation, axis of direction of the orbiting object ...
of 18 ° with respect to the ecliptic. It is a member of the
Alinda group
The Alinda asteroids are a dynamical group of asteroids with a semi-major axis of about 2.5 AU and an orbital eccentricity approximately between 0.4 and 0.65.
Due to a
precovery
In astronomy, precovery (short for pre-discovery recovery) is the process of finding the image of an object in images or photographic plates predating its discovery, typically for the purpose of calculating a more accurate orbit. This happens mos ...
obtained at the Australian
Siding Spring Observatory
Siding Spring Observatory near Coonabarabran, New South Wales, Australia, part of the Research School of Astronomy & Astrophysics (RSAA) at the Australian National University (ANU), incorporates the Anglo-Australian Telescope along with a coll ...
, 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 ...
As of 2016, the asteroid's effective size, its composition and albedo, as well as its
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 ...
and shape remain unknown. Based on an absolute magnitude of 15.1, it measures between 3 and 6 kilometers in diameter, assuming an
albedo
Albedo (; ) is the measure of the diffuse reflection of sunlight, 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 ...
in the range of 0.05 to 0.25. Since near-Earth asteroids are often of a
silicaceous
Silicon dioxide, also known as silica, is an oxide of silicon with the chemical formula , most commonly found in nature as quartz and in various living organisms. In many parts of the world, silica is the major constituent of sand. Silica is one ...
rather than of a
carbonaceous
Carbon () is a chemical element with the chemical symbol, symbol C and atomic number 6. It is nonmetallic and tetravalence, tetravalent—its atom making four electrons available to form covalent bond, covalent chemical bonds. It belongs to gro ...
composition, with higher albedos, typically above 0.20, the asteroid's diameter might be on the lower end of NASA's published conversion table, as the higher the body's reflectivity (albedo), the smaller its diameter, at a constant absolute magnitude (brightness).
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 ''minor ...
is named for
Cadmus
In Greek mythology, Cadmus (; grc-gre, Κάδμος, Kádmos) was the legendary Phoenician founder of Boeotian Thebes. He was the first Greek hero and, alongside Perseus and Bellerophon, the greatest hero and slayer of monsters before the da ...
, the Phoenician prince, first king of Theben, and one of the greatest heroes before the days of Heracles. The minor planets
1873 Agenor
1873 Agenor ( ''prov. designation'': ) is a dark Jupiter trojan from the Trojan camp, approximately in diameter. It was discovered during the Palomar–Leiden Trojan survey in 1971, and later named after Agenor from Greek mythology. The dark ...
,
52 Europa
Europa ( minor planet designation: 52 Europa) is the 6th-largest asteroid in the asteroid belt, having a diameter of over 300 km, though it is not correspondingly massive. It is not round but is shaped like an ellipsoid of approximately ...
,
5731 Zeus
5731 Zeus is an Apollo asteroid and near-Earth object discovered on 4 November 1988, by Carolyn Shoemaker at Palomar Observatory. Based on its observed brightness and assumed albedo
Albedo (; ) is the measure of the diffuse reflection of s ...
40 Harmonia
Harmonia (minor planet designation: 40 Harmonia) is a large main-belt asteroid. It was discovered by German-French astronomer Hermann Goldschmidt on March 31, 1856, and named after Harmonia, the Greek goddess of harmony. The name was chosen to ma ...
Greek mythology
A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the Cosmogony, origin and Cosmology#Metaphysical co ...