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22740 Rayleigh

Outer main-belt asteroid

Field	Value
minorplanet	yes
name	22740 Rayleigh
background	#D6D6D6
discovery_ref
discoverer	E. W. Elst
discovery_site	La Silla Obs.
discovered	20 September 1998
mpc_name	(22740) Rayleigh
alt_names	1986 SN
named_after	Lord Rayleigh
(English physicist)
mp_category	main-belt(outer)
backgroundZhongguo
orbit_ref
epoch	23 March 2018 (JD 2458200.5)
uncertainty	0
observation_arc	31.32 yr (11,438 d)
aphelion	3.9380 AU
perihelion	2.5473 AU
semimajor	3.2426 AU
eccentricity	0.2144
period	5.84 yr (2,133 d)
mean_anomaly	200.81°
mean_motion	/ day
inclination	3.1157°
asc_node	169.06°
arg_peri	112.43°
mean_diameter	km
albedo
abs_magnitude	13.4

(English physicist) backgroundZhongguo

22740 Rayleigh (provisional designation ****) is a Zhongguo asteroid from the outermost region of the asteroid belt, approximately 10 km in diameter. It was discovered on 20 September 1998, by Belgian astronomer Eric Elst at the La Silla Observatory in Chile. It is one of few asteroids located in the 2:1 resonance with Jupiter. The asteroid was named for English physicist and Nobel laureate Lord Rayleigh.

Orbit and classification

Rayleigh is a non-family asteroid from the main belt's background population. It is a member of the small group of Zhongguo asteroids, located in the Hecuba gap (2:1 mean motion resonance with Jupiter) near 3.27 AU. Contrary to the nearby unstable Griqua group, the orbits of the Zhongguos are stable over half a billion years.

It orbits the Sun in the outer asteroid belt at a distance of 2.5–3.9 AU once every 5 years and 10 months (2,133 days; semi-major axis of 3.24 AU). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.21 and an inclination of 3° with respect to the ecliptic. The body's observation arc begins with its observations as at Klet Observatory in September 1986, or 13 years prior to its official discovery observation at La Silla.

Physical characteristics

Diameter and albedo

According to the survey carried out by the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, Rayleigh measures 9.819 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo of 0.088.

Rotation period

As of 2018, no rotational lightcurve of Rayleigh has been obtained from photometric observations. The body's rotation period, pole and shape remain unknown.

Naming

This minor planet was named after English physicist John William Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh (Lord Rayleigh; 1842–1919), who discovered the noble gas argon and was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1904 (also see list of laureates). The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 1 June 2007 (M.P.C. 59923). The lunar crater Rayleigh as well as the crater Rayleigh on Mars are also named in his honor.

References

{{GPN. 4966
{{GPN. 4967

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

zhongguo-asteroids background-asteroids discoveries-by-eric-walter-elst named-minor-planets astronomical-objects-discovered-in-1998

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