(38984) 2000 UZ4
Carbonaceous asteroid
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(38984) 2000 UZ4 (provisional designation 2000 UZ4) is carbonaceous Zhongguo asteroid from the outermost regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 5 kilometers (3 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 24 October 2000, by astronomers with Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research at the Lincoln Laboratory's Experimental Test Site near Socorro, New Mexico, in the United States.[1] The likely elongated C-type asteroid has a rotation period of 19.20 hours.[3]
| Discovery[1] | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | LINEAR |
| Discovery site | Lincoln Lab's ETS |
| Discovery date | 24 October 2000 |
| Designations | |
| (38984) 2000 UZ4 | |
| 2000 UZ4 | |
| main-belt[1] · (outer)[2][3] Zhongguo[4] · 2:1 res[5] | |
| Orbital characteristics[2] | |
| Epoch 23 March 2018 (JD 2458200.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 0 | |
| Observation arc | 20.39 yr (7,447 d) |
| Aphelion | 4.1195 AU |
| Perihelion | 2.5141 AU |
| 3.3168 AU | |
| Eccentricity | 0.2420 |
| 6.04 yr (2,206 d) | |
| 312.38° | |
| 0° 9m 47.52s / day | |
| Inclination | 0.4882° |
| 59.710° | |
| 357.34° | |
| Physical characteristics | |
| 4.87 km (calculated)[3] | |
| 19.20±0.390 h[6] | |
| 0.057 (assumed)[3] | |
| C[3][7] | |
| 14.6[2] 14.840±0.190 (R)[6] 15.19±0.14[7] 15.29[3] | |
Orbit and classification
2000 UZ4 is a non-family asteroid from the main belt's background population, and a member of the small group of Zhongguo asteroids,[4] located in the Hecuba gap and locked in a 2:1 mean-motion resonance with the gas giant Jupiter. Contrary to the nearby unstable Griqua group, the orbits of the Zhongguos are stable over half a billion years.[4][5]
It orbits the Sun in the outer main-belt at a distance of 2.5â4.1 AU once every 6.04 years (2,206 days; semi-major axis of 3.32 AU). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.24 and an inclination of 0° with respect to the ecliptic.[2] The body's observation arc begins with a precovery taken by Spacewatch in February 1996, more than 4 years prior to its official discovery observation at Socorro.[1]
Physical characteristics
2000 UZ4 has been characterized as a carbonaceous C-type asteroid by Pan-STARRS' large-scale survey.[3]
Rotation period
In January 2014, a rotational lightcurve of this asteroid was obtained from photometric observations in the R-band by astronomers at the Intermediate Palomar Transient Factory in California. Lightcurve analysis gave a rotation period of 19.20 hours with a high brightness amplitude of 0.70 magnitude, indicative of an elongated shape (U=2).[6]
Diameter and albedo
The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo for carbonaceous asteroids of 0.057 and calculates a diameter of 4.87 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 15.29.[3]
Numbering and naming
This minor planet was numbered by the Minor Planet Center on 28 March 2002, after its orbit had sufficiently been secured (M.P.C. 45198).[8] As of 2018, it has not been named.[1]