 Orbital diagram ofMunroe | |
| Discovery[1] | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | H. Debehogne |
| Discovery site | La Silla Obs. |
| Discovery date | 24 February 1987 |
| Designations | |
| (4942) Munroe | |
Named after | Randall Munroe (American cartoonist)[2] |
| 1987 DU6 · 1955 MS 1971 GE · 1990 CB | |
| main-belt · (inner) | |
| Orbital characteristics[1] | |
| Epoch 4 September 2017 (JD 2458000.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 0 | |
| Observation arc | 61.76 yr (22,559 days) |
| Aphelion | 2.5000AU |
| Perihelion | 1.9026 AU |
| 2.2013 AU | |
| Eccentricity | 0.1357 |
| 3.27yr (1,193 days) | |
| 9.2509° | |
| 0° 18m 6.48s / day | |
| Inclination | 3.8333° |
| 278.09° | |
| 11.227° | |
| Physical characteristics | |
| 3.453±0.139 km[3] | |
| 0.936±0.183[3] | |
| SMASS =X[1] | |
| 13.5[1] | |
4942 Munroe, provisional designation1987 DU6, is anasteroid from the inner regions of theasteroid belt, approximately 3 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 24 February 1987, by Belgian astronomerHenri Debehogne at ESO'sLa Silla Observatory in northern Chile, and later named after American cartoonist and former NASA roboticistRandall Munroe.[2]
Munroe orbits the Sun in theinner main-belt at a distance of 1.9–2.5 AU once every 3 years and 3 months (1,194 days). Its orbit has aneccentricity of 0.14 and aninclination of 4° with respect to theecliptic.[1]It was first identified as1955 MS at theLeiden Southern Station (Johannesburg-Hartbeespoort) in 1955, extending the body'sobservation arc by 32 years prior to its official discovery observation.[2]
In theSMASS taxonomy,Munroe is characterized as anX-type asteroid. It has anabsolute magnitude of 13.5.[1]
According to the survey carried out by theNEOWISE mission of NASA'sWide-field Infrared Survey Explorer,Munroe measures 3.453 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an exceptionally highalbedo of 0.936.[3] On his private blog, Randall Munroe (after whom the asteroid is named) calculates that the asteroid is between 6 and 10 kilometers in diameter, comparable in size to theChicxulub asteroid.[4]
As of 2017,Munroe'srotation period, poles and shape remain unknown.[1][5]
In 2013, it was named afterRandall Munroe (born 1984), a formerNASA roboticist and the author of the webcomicxkcd.[6] The name was chosen byxkcd readers Lewis Hulbert and Jordan Zhu.[7] The official naming citation was published on 22 July 2013 (M.P.C. 84378).[8]
