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Discovery and designation
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| Discovered by | Carolyn and Gene Shoemaker |
| Discovery site | Palomar Observatory |
| Discovery date | May 27, 1984 |
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Designations
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| MPC designation | 3671 |
| Named after | Dionysus |
| Alternate name(s) | 1984 KD[1] |
| Epoch August 27, 2011 (JD 2455800.5 | |
| Aphelion | 3.389130075 AU |
| Perihelion | 1.00645923 AU |
| Semi-major axis | 2.197794652 AU |
| Eccentricity | 0.54205947 |
| Orbital period | 3.258283510 yr (1190.088052 d) |
| Mean anomaly | 120.239711° |
| Inclination | 13.547627° |
| Longitude of ascending node | 82.15874° |
| Argument of perihelion | 204.23906° |
| Satellites | 1 |
| Dimensions | 1.5 km[1] |
| Sidereal rotation period |
2.7053 h[1] |
| Geometric albedo | 0.16[1] |
| Spectral type | B[1] |
| Absolute magnitude (H) | 16.3[1] |
3671 Dionysus is a small binary Amor asteroid, orbiting between the Earth and the asteroid belt. It was discovered by Carolyn and Gene Shoemaker at Palomar Observatory on 27 May 1984. It is named after Dionysus, the Greek god of wine. Its provisional designation was 1984 KD. It is an outer Earth grazer because its perihelion is within Earth's aphelion.
Dionysus is a B-type asteroid and measures approximately 1.5km in diameter.
In 1997, a team of astronomers at the European Southern Observatory announced that lightcurve observations indicate the presence of a small moon orbiting Dionysus. This moon measures 300 meters in diameter, and orbits 3.6km from Dionysus.[2] It has received the provisional designation S/1997 (3671) 1.
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