4197 Morpheus
| Discovery and designation | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | E. F. Helin and E. M. Shoemaker |
| Discovery date | October 11, 1982 |
| Designations | |
| none | |
| Apollo, Mars-crosser, Venus-crosser | |
| Orbital characteristics | |
| Epoch December 31, 2006 (JD 2454100.5) | |
| Aphelion | 609.578 Gm (4.075 AU) |
| Perihelion | 78.708 Gm (0.526 AU) |
| 344.143 Gm (2.300 AU) | |
| Eccentricity | 0.771 |
| 1274.441 d (3.49 a) | |
Average orbital speed | 16.27 km/s |
| 317.807° | |
| Inclination | 12.219° |
| 10.001° | |
| 119.441° | |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Dimensions | 1.7 km |
| Mass | ~5.1×1012 kg |
Mean density | 2.0? g/cm³ |
Equatorial surface gravity | ~0.0005 m/s² |
Equatorial escape velocity | ~0.0009 km/s |
Sidereal rotation period | 0.147418±0.000002 d (3.53802±0.00005 h) [1] |
| ?° | |
Pole ecliptic latitude | ? |
Pole ecliptic longitude | ? |
| 0.10? | |
| Temperature | ~183 K |
| ? | |
| 14.6 | |
|
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(4197) Morpheus (provisional designation 1982 TA) was discovered on October 11, 1982, by Eleanor F. Helin and Eugene Shoemaker. It is an Apollo, Mars- and Venus-crosser asteroid, only 1.7 km in diameter.
In 1996, astronomers at the Goldstone Observatory analysed it using radar delay-Doppler imaging. The resultant images are not very clear, but they show that (4197) 1982 TA has a roughly triangular shape, and a 3-hour rotation period.
It's named after Morpheus.
References
- ↑ P. Pravec, L. Šarounová, M. Wolf, I. R. V. Ferrin, J. Zhu : CCD photometry of asteroids (4197) 1982 TA and 1997 LY4, Planetary and Space Science , Vol. 48, No. 1, pp. 59-65 (2000) http://abob.libs.uga.edu/bobk/ccc/cc032100.html
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