| Discovery[1] | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | Purple Mountain Obs. |
| Discovery site | Purple Mountain Obs. |
| Discovery date | 23 October 1981 |
| Designations | |
| (2903) Zhuhai | |
Named after | Zhuhai[1](Chinese city) |
| 1981 UV9 · 1955 MC 1973 UK4 · 1975 GC 1977 TN7 · 1977 VL2 | |
| main-belt[1][2] · (middle) background[3] · Maria[4][5] | |
| Orbital characteristics[2] | |
| Epoch 23 March 2018 (JD 2458200.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 0 | |
| Observation arc | 62.44yr (22,808 d) |
| Aphelion | 2.7128AU |
| Perihelion | 2.4104 AU |
| 2.5616 AU | |
| Eccentricity | 0.0590 |
| 4.10 yr (1,497 d) | |
| 236.34° | |
| 0° 14m 25.44s / day | |
| Inclination | 14.350° |
| 232.57° | |
| 243.97° | |
| Physical characteristics | |
| 13.58±0.90 km[6] 13.581±0.896 km[6] 14.01±0.86 km[7] | |
| 5.263±0.002 h[8] 5.268±0.003 h[9] 6.152 h[4] | |
| 0.146±0.020[7] 0.20(assumed)[10] 0.276±0.141[6] | |
| S[10][11] | |
| 11.35[6] 11.60±0.40[11] 11.7[2][10] 12.00[7] | |
2903 Zhuhai, provisional designation1981 UV9, is a stony background or Marianasteroid from the central regions of theasteroid belt, approximately 14 kilometers (8.7 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 23 October 1981, by astronomers atPurple Mountain Observatory near Nanjing, China.[1] TheS-type asteroid has arotation period of 5.26 hours.[10] It was named for the Chinese city ofZhuhai.[1]
Based on osculating Keplerianorbital elements,Zhuhai has also been classified as a member of theMaria family (506), a largefamily of stony asteroids, named after170 Maria.[4] When applying thehierarchical clustering method to itsproper orbital elements, the asteroid is both a non-family asteroid of the main belt'sbackground population (according to Nesvorný),[3] as well as a core member of the Maria family (according to Milani and Knežević).[5]
It orbits the Sun in thecentral main-belt at a distance of 2.4–2.7 AU once every 4 years and 1 month (1,497 days;semi-major axis of 2.56 AU). Its orbit has aneccentricity of 0.06 and aninclination of 14° with respect to theecliptic.[2] The body'sobservation arc begins with its first observation as1955 MC atGoethe Link Observatory in June 1955, or 26 years prior to its official discovery observation at Nanjing.[1]
Zhuhai has been characterized as a common, stonyS-type asteroid byPan-STARRS photometric survey.[10][11]
Until 2012, three rotationallightcurves ofZhuhai have been obtained fromphotometric observations.[8][9][4] Best-rated lightcurve from theOakley Southern Sky Observatory gave a well-definedrotation period of 5.263 hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.32magnitude (U=3).[8][10]
According to the surveys carried out by the JapaneseAkari satellite and theNEOWISE mission of NASA'sWide-field Infrared Survey Explorer,Zhuhai measures between 13.58 and 14.01 kilometers in diameter and its surface has analbedo between 0.146 and 0.276.[6][7] TheCollaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo for stony asteroids of 0.20 and calculates a diameter of 13.58 kilometers based on anabsolute magnitude of 11.7.[10]
Thisminor planet was named after the city of located in theGuangdong province of southern China.[1] The official naming citation was published by theMinor Planet Center on 11 March 1990 (M.P.C. 16041).[12]
