|
Discovery and designation
|
|
|---|---|
| Discovered by | Denis Bergeron |
| Discovery site | Val-des-Bois (Quebec) |
| Discovery date | March 22, 1999 |
|
Designations
|
|
| MPC designation | 74503 |
| Alternate name(s) | 1999 DN4 |
| Epoch June 18, 2009 | |
| Ap | 3.5776331 |
| Peri | 2.4452093 |
| Semi-major axis | 3.0114212 |
| Eccentricity | 0.1880215 |
| Orbital period | 1908.7791274 |
| Mean anomaly | 317.91212 |
| Inclination | 17.18641 |
| Longitude of ascending node | 357.19118 |
| Argument of peri | 201.06986 |
| Absolute magnitude (H) | 15.0 |
74503 Madola (1999 DN4) is a main-belt asteroid discovered on February 23, 1999, by Denis Bergeron at Val-des-Bois(Quebec).
In mid-2009, it was officially named Madola by the International Astronomical Union, in honor of Christian Marois (b. 1974), René Doyon (b. 1963) and David Lafrenière (b. 1978), who developed instruments and techniques that allowed the first direct photograph of an extrasolar planetary system, consisting of three planets orbiting the star HR 8799 in Pegasus.
Doyon was director of the Mont-Mégantic Observatory in Quebec; Marois and Lafrenière were postdoctoral fellows at the Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics and the University of Toronto.