| Discovery[1] | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | C. J. van Houten I. van Houten-G. T. Gehrels |
| Discovery site | Palomar Obs. |
| Discovery date | 24 March 1971 |
| Designations | |
| (1877) Marsden | |
Named after | Brian G. Marsden (British astronomer)[2] |
| 1971 FC · 1950 TG 1950 TT2 | |
| main-belt · Hilda[3] | |
| Orbital characteristics[1] | |
| Epoch 4 September 2017 (JD 2458000.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 0 | |
| Observation arc | 66.57 yr (24,315 days) |
| Aphelion | 4.7626AU |
| Perihelion | 3.1251 AU |
| 3.9439 AU | |
| Eccentricity | 0.2076 |
| 7.83yr (2,861 days) | |
| 244.81° | |
| Inclination | 17.551° |
| 352.86° | |
| 306.87° | |
| TJupiter | 2.9430 |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Dimensions | 34.01 km(derived)[4] 35.27±1.78 km[5] 35.643±0.298 km[6] |
| 14.4h[7] | |
| 0.057(assumed)[4] 0.07±0.01[6] 0.082±0.009[5] | |
| D[6] · C[4] | |
| 10.70[5] · 10.9[1] · 11.07[4][7] | |
1877 Marsden, provisional designation1971 FC, is a carbonaceous Hildianasteroid from the outermost region of theasteroid belt, approximately 35 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered during thePalomar–Leiden Trojan survey in 1971, and named after British astronomerBrian Marsden.[2]
Marsden was discovered on 24 March 1971, by Dutch astronomer coupleIngrid andCornelis van Houten at Leiden, on photographic plates taken by Dutch–American astronomerTom Gehrels atPalomar Observatory, California.[3]
The discovery was made in a survey of faint Trojans (in spite of not having received a typicalT-1 designation).[1] The trio of Dutch and Dutch–American astronomers collaborated on the productivePalomar–Leiden survey in the 1960s, using the same procedure as for this smaller Trojan campaign: Gehrels used Palomar'sSamuel Oschin telescope (also known as the 48-inch Schmidt Telescope), and shipped thephotographic plates to Cornelis and Ingrid van Houten atLeiden Observatory where blinking andastrometry was carried out.
Marsden is a member of theHilda family.[6] It orbits the Sun in theoutermost main-belt at a distance of 3.1–4.8 AU once every 7 years and 10 months (2,861 days). Its orbit has aneccentricity of 0.21 and aninclination of 18° with respect to theecliptic.[1]
This trojan asteroid has been characterized as a darkC-type andD-type asteroid.[4][6]
During a photometric survey of Hilda asteroids in the late 1990s, an obtainedlight curve forMarsden gave arotation period of 14.4 hours with a brightness variation of 0.22 inmagnitude (U=2).[7]
According to the surveys carried out by the JapaneseAkari satellite and NASA'sWide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequentNEOWISE mission,Marsden measures 35.27 and 35.643 kilometers in diameter and its surface has analbedo of 0.082 and 0.07, respectively.[5][6] TheCollaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo for carbonaceous asteroids of 0.057 and derives a diameter of 34.01 kilometers with anabsolute magnitude of 11.07.[4]
Thisminor planet was named in honor of British astronomerBrian Marsden (1937–2010), director of theMinor Planet Center (MPC) at theHarvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, in recognition of his numerous contributions in the field of orbit calculations for comets and minor planets.[2] The officialnaming citation was published by theMinor Planet Center on 1 June 1975 (M.P.C. 3826).[8]
