3350 Scobee
| Discovery | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | E. Bowell |
| Discovery site | Anderson Mesa Stn. |
| Discovery date | 8 August 1980 |
| Designations | |
| MPC designation | 3350 Scobee |
|
Named after
|
Dick Scobee (Challenger crew member) |
| 1980 PJ · 1973 SG2 1976 JU10 |
|
| main-belt · Flora | |
| Orbital characteristics | |
| Epoch 16 February 2017 (JD 2457800.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 0 | |
| Observation arc | 64.31 yr (23,491 days) |
| Aphelion | 2.7846 AU |
| Perihelion | 1.8353 AU |
| 2.3100 AU | |
| Eccentricity | 0.2055 |
| 3.51 yr (1,282 days) | |
| 144.52° | |
| 0° 16m 50.52s / day | |
| Inclination | 3.4098° |
| 353.72° | |
| 330.84° | |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Dimensions |
3.11±0.59 km 3.26 km (calculated) 7.401±0.210 km |
|
0.059±0.011 0.22±0.08 0.24 (assumed) |
|
| S | |
| 14.3 · 14.6 14.81 · 15.10±0.25 |
|
3350 Scobee, provisional designation 1980 PJ, is a stony Florian asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 3 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 8 August 1980 by American astronomer Edward Bowell at Lowell's Anderson Mesa Station near Flagstaff, Arizona. It was named for Dick Scobee, commander of the ill-fated Challenger crew.
As a member of the Flora family, one of the largest families of stony S-type asteroids the main belt, Scobee orbits the Sun at a distance of 1.8–2.8 AU once every 3 years and 6 months (1,282 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.21 and an inclination of 3° with respect to the ecliptic. A first precovery was taken at Palomar Observatory in 1952, extending the body's observation arc by 28 years prior to its official discovery observation at Anderson Mesa.
According to preliminary results of the space-based survey carried out by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent NEOWISE mission, Scobee measured 7.401 kilometers in diameter and its surface had a dark, carbonaceous albedo of 0.059. The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link, however, assumed an albedo of 0.24 – derived from 8 Flora, the largest member and namesake of the family – and calculated a diameter of 3.26 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 14.6. More recent NEOWISE-observations, taken during the second year since the spacecraft was reactivated in late 2013, are in agreement, giving a diameter of 3.11 kilometers and an albedo of 0.22.
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