1462 Zamenhof, provisional designation , is a carbonaceous Themistian
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 outer 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 27 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 6 February 1938, by Finnish astronomer
Yrjö Väisälä
Yrjö Väisälä (; 6 September 1891 – 21 July 1971) was a Finnish astronomer and physicist.
His main contributions were in the field of optics. He was also active in geodetics, astronomy and optical metrology. He had an affectionate ni ...
Esperanto
Esperanto ( or ) is the world's most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Created by the Warsaw-based ophthalmologist L. L. Zamenhof in 1887, it was intended to be a universal second language for international communic ...
. It is a recognized
Zamenhof-Esperanto object
A Zamenhof-Esperanto object ( eo, Zamenhof/Esperanto-Objekto, ZEO) is a monument or place linked to L. L. Zamenhof, to the constructed language Esperanto that he created and first published in 1887, or to the community of Esperanto speaker ...
.
Orbit and classification
''Zamenhof'' is a Themistian asteroid that belongs to the Themis family (), a very large
family
Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...
of carbonaceous asteroids, named after
24 Themis
Themis (minor planet designation: 24 Themis) is one of the largest asteroids in the asteroid belt. It is also the largest member of the Themistian family. It was discovered by Annibale de Gasparis on 5 April 1853. It is named after Themis, the ...