18880 Toddblumberg Explained

Minorplanet:yes
18880 Toddblumberg
Background:
  1. D6D6D6
Discovered:10 December 1999
Mpc Name:(18880) Toddblumberg
Named After:Todd James Blumberg
Epoch:4 September 2017 (JD 2458000.5)
Uncertainty:0
Observation Arc:63.35 yr (23,140 days)
Perihelion:2.6135 AU
Semimajor:3.2048 AU
Eccentricity:0.1845
Period:5.74 yr (2,096 days)
Mean Motion: / day
Inclination:9.6539°
Asc Node:19.849°
Arg Peri:29.542°
Dimensions: km
Abs Magnitude:14.1

18880 Toddblumberg (provisional designation ) is a background asteroid from the outer region of the asteroid belt, approximately 4 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 10 December 1999, by LINEAR at the Lincoln Laboratory's Experimental Test Site, near Socorro, New Mexico, United States. The asteroid was named after Todd Blumberg, a 2003 ISEF contest awardee.

Orbit and classification

Toddblumberg orbits the Sun in the outer main-belt at a distance of 2.6–3.8 AU once every 5 years and 9 months (2,096 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.18 and an inclination of 10° with respect to the ecliptic. The first precovery was taken at Palomar Observatory (DSS) in 1953, extending the body's observation arc by 46 years prior to its official discovery observation at Socorro.

Although discovered by LINEAR, Toddblumberg is not a near-Earth asteroid. Its closest approach to the Sun (perihelion) is about double the maximum distance of 1.3 AU that qualifies an asteroid as "near-Earth".

Physical characteristics

Diameter and albedo

According to the survey carried out by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent NEOWISE mission, Toddblumberg measures 4.3 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo of 0.265.

Lightcurve

As of 2017, Toddblumberg's spectral type and rotation period remain unknown.

Naming

This minor planet was named for Todd James Blumberg (born 1984), a student at the Plano Senior High School in Plano, Texas, who won the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) award for his microbiology project in 2003.

Since 2001, hundreds of secondary school students who have won awards at science fairs have had asteroids named after them. The approved naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 30 August 2004 .

External links