| Discovery[1] | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | L. D. Schmadel F. Börngen |
| Discovery site | Karl Schwarzschild Obs. |
| Discovery date | 13 October 1990 |
| Designations | |
| (14871) Pyramus | |
Named after | Pyramus[2] (Classical mythology) |
| 1990 TH7 · 1972 TJ3 1978 TW4 | |
| main-belt[1] · (outer)[3] background[4] · Zhongguo[5] | |
| Orbital characteristics[3] | |
| Epoch 23 March 2018 (JD 2458200.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 0 | |
| Observation arc | 62.73yr (22,913 d) |
| Aphelion | 4.0337AU |
| Perihelion | 2.5706 AU |
| 3.3021 AU | |
| Eccentricity | 0.2215 |
| 6.00 yr (2,192 d) | |
| 266.76° | |
| 0° 9m 51.48s / day | |
| Inclination | 0.9882° |
| 5.9989° | |
| 314.20° | |
| Physical characteristics | |
| 9 km(estimated at0.06)[6] 9.180±0.302[7] | |
| 0.069±0.020[7] | |
| 13.9[3] | |
14871 Pyramus, provisional designation1990 TH7, is a dark Zhongguoasteroid from the outermost region of theasteroid belt, approximately 9 kilometers (6 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 13 October 1990 by German astronomersLutz Schmadel andFreimut Börngen at theKarl Schwarzschild Observatory in Tautenburg, Germany.[1] The asteroid was named forPyramus from classical mythology.[2]
Pyramus is a non-family asteroid from the main belt'sbackground population. It is a member of the small group ofZhongguo asteroids, located in the 2 : 1mean motion resonance with the giant planetJupiter. Contrary to the nearby unstableGriqua group, the orbits of the Zhongguos are stable over half a billion years.[4][5][8]
It orbits the Sun in theouter main-belt at a distance of 2.6–4.0 AU once every 6.00 years (2,192 days;semi-major axis of 3.3 AU). Its orbit has aneccentricity of 0.22 and aninclination of 1° with respect to theecliptic.[3] The firstprecovery was taken atPalomar Observatory in 1954, extending the asteroid'sobservation arc by 36 years prior to its discovery.[1]
According to the survey carried out by NASA'sWide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequentNEOWISE mission,Pyramus measures 9.2 kilometers in diameter and its surface has analbedo of 0.069.[7] This is in line with a genericabsolute magnitude-to-diameter conversion that gives a diameter of 4 to 9 kilometers for an albedo between 0.05 and 0.25.[6]
As of 2018, no rotational lightcurve has been obtained ofPyramus. The asteroid'srotation period,pole and shape remain unknown.[3][9]
Thisminor planet was named fromGreco-Roman mythology afterPyramus, the lover of Thisbe(see minor planet88 Thisbe) from which the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet ultimately originated. As narrated in Ovid'sMetamorphoses, the two ill-fated lovers committed suicide as their parents were against their marriage. The asteroid's name was proposed by Austrian amateur astronomerHerbert Raab. The citation mentions that the "two lovers are now finally united forever in the asteroid belt".[2] The approved naming citation was published by theMinor Planet Center on 6 January 2003 (M.P.C. 47301).[10]
