Minorplanet: | yes |
45737 Benita | |
Background: |
|
Discovery Ref: |   |
Discovered: | 22 April 2000 |
Mpc Name: | (45737) Benita |
Alt Names: | 2000 HB |
Named After: | Benita Segal  |
Mp Category: | main-belt background  |
Orbit Ref: |   |
Epoch: | 4 September 2017 (JD 2458000.5) |
Uncertainty: | 0 |
Observation Arc: | 19.41 yr (7,091 days) |
Perihelion: | 3.0485 AU |
Semimajor: | 3.1963 AU |
Eccentricity: | 0.0462 |
Period: | 5.71 yr (2,087 days) |
Mean Motion: | / day |
Inclination: | 10.197° |
Asc Node: | 181.43° |
Arg Peri: | 124.47° |
Dimensions: | km |
Abs Magnitude: | 13.6 |
45737 Benita (provisional designation ) is a bright asteroid located in the outer regions of the asteroid belt. It has an estimated diameter of approximately 5 kilometers. The asteroid was discovered on April 22, 2000, by Bruce Segal, an American amateur astronomer, at the Florida Atlantic University's Jupiter Observatory in Boca Raton, Florida.
Benita is a non-family asteroid that belongs to the background population of the main belt. It orbits the Sun in the outer region of the asteroid belt, at a distance of 3.0–3.3 AU. It completes one orbit around the Sun every 5 years and 9 months (2,087 days) with a semi-major axis of approximately 3.20 AU. The orbit of Benita is slightly eccentric, with an eccentricity of 0.05, and it is inclined at an angle of 10° with respect to the ecliptic plane. The body's observation arc begins with a precovery taken at Lincoln Laboratory's ETS, New Mexico, on 30 October 1997.
According to the survey carried out by the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, Benita measures 5.121 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo of 0.294.
As of 2017, no rotational lightcurve of Benita has been obtained from photometric observations. The body's rotation period, poles and shape remain unknown.
The discoverer named this minor planet after his wife, Benita Segal (born 1964), a major supporter of the observatory. The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 20 November 2002 .