78816 Caripito
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Discovery[1] | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | J. Dellinger |
| Discovery site | Needville Obs. |
| Discovery date | 4 August 2003 |
| Designations | |
| (78816) Caripito | |
Named after | Caripito[2] (Venezuelan town) |
| 2003 PZ9 | |
| main-belt[1][3] · (outer) background[4][5] | |
| Orbital characteristics[3] | |
| Epoch 27 April 2019 (JD 2458600.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 0 | |
| Observation arc | 63.49 yr (23,190 d) |
| Aphelion | 3.8470 AU |
| Perihelion | 2.4559 AU |
| 3.1514 AU | |
| Eccentricity | 0.2207 |
| 5.59 yr (2,043 d) | |
| 268.80° | |
| 0° 10m 34.32s / day | |
| Inclination | 5.6313° |
| 277.97° | |
| 86.530° | |
| Physical characteristics | |
| 5.328±0.129 km[6] | |
| 0.052±0.008[6] | |
| 15.5[1][3] | |
78816 Caripito (provisional designation 2003 PZ9) is a background asteroid from the outer region of the asteroid belt, approximately 5 kilometers (3.1 miles) in diameter. The asteroid was discovered on 4 August 2003, by American amateur astronomer and professor of geophysics, Joseph Dellinger at the Needville Observatory in Texas, United States.[1] It was named for the town of Caripito in Venezuela.[2]
Caripito is a non-family asteroid from the main belt's background population.[4][5] It orbits the Sun in the outer asteroid belt at a distance of 2.5–3.8 AU once every 5 years and 7 months (2,043 days; semi-major axis of 3.15 AU). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.22 and an inclination of 6° with respect to the ecliptic.[3] The first precovery, published by the Digitized Sky Survey, was taken at Palomar Observatory in September 1953, extending the asteroid's observation arc by 50 years prior to its official discovery observation.[1]
Naming
This minor planet is named for the Venezuelan town of Caripito in the northeastern Monagas State. It was the place where the parents of the discoverer, Thomas Baynes Dellinger (born 1926) and María de la Garza Cantú (born 1928), met in 1949. At the time, the town was a base camp for the country's rich Quiriquire oil field.[2] The approved naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 18 September 2005 (M.P.C. 54829).[7]
