| Discovery[1] | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | U. Munari M. Tombelli |
| Discovery site | Cima Ekar Observing Stn. |
| Discovery date | 15 January 1996 |
| Designations | |
| (7794) Sanvito | |
Named after | Roberto di San Vito[1] (Italian amateur astronomer) |
| 1996 AD4 · 1980 TH6 1987 QG5 · 1987 SM24 1987 UF7 · 1993 HC8 | |
| main-belt[1][2] · (inner) Vesta[3] | |
| Orbital characteristics[2] | |
| Epoch 23 March 2018 (JD 2458200.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 0 | |
| Observation arc | 37.30yr (13,625 d) |
| Aphelion | 2.6417AU |
| Perihelion | 1.9626 AU |
| 2.3021 AU | |
| Eccentricity | 0.1475 |
| 3.49 yr (1,276 d) | |
| 308.03° | |
| 0° 16m 55.92s / day | |
| Inclination | 5.6731° |
| 221.43° | |
| 86.191° | |
| Physical characteristics | |
| 4.558±0.169 km[4] | |
| 0.309±0.092[4] | |
| 14.0[2] | |
7794 Sanvito, provisional designation1996 AD4, is a bright Vestianasteroid from the inner regions of theasteroid belt, approximately 4.6 kilometers (2.9 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 15 January 1996, by Italian astronomersUlisse Munari andMaura Tombelli at theCima Ekar Observing Station in Tuscany, Italy.[1] The likelyV-type asteroid was named after Italian amateur astronomerRoberto di San Vito.
Sanvito is a core member of theVesta family.[3] Vestian asteroids have a composition akin to cumulateeucrites (HED meteorites) and are thought to have originated deep within4 Vesta's crust, possibly from theRheasilvia crater, a largeimpact crater on its southern hemisphere near the South pole, formed as a result of a subcatastrophic collision. Vesta is the main belt'ssecond-largest andsecond-most-massive body afterCeres.[5][6]
It orbits the Sun in theinner main-belt at a distance of 2.0–2.6 AU once every 3 years and 6 months (1,276 days;semi-major axis of 2.3 AU). Its orbit has aneccentricity of 0.15 and aninclination of 6° with respect to theecliptic.[2] The body'sobservation arc begins with its first observations as1980 TH6 atCrimea-Nauchnij in October 1980, more than 15 years prior to its official discovery observation at Cima Ekar.[1]
Sanvito has anabsolute magnitude of 14.0.[2] Itsspectral type is unknown. Based on its highalbedo(see below) measured by theWide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) and its classification into the Vesta family,Sanvito is likely aV-type asteroid. As of 2018, no rotationallightcurve of this asteroid has been obtained fromphotometric observations. The body'srotation period,pole and shape remain unknown.[2]
According to the survey carried out by theNEOWISE mission of NASA's WISE telescope,Sanvito measures 4.558 kilometers in diameter and its surface has a highalbedo of 0.309.[4]
Thisminor planet was named afterRoberto di San Vito, an Italian amateur astronomer committed toastrometric observations. He is also a supporter of a new observatory inMontelupo Fiorentino, Tuscany.[1] The official naming citation was published by theMinor Planet Center on 5 October 1998 (M.P.C. 32790).[7]
In the "Sources" section of the science fiction novel3001: The Final Odyssey, the author,Arthur C. Clarke, jokingly refers to a prediction he made in the first book of the series,2001: A Space Odyssey (published in 1968), of an Asteroid 7794 being discovered by a "lunar observatory" in 1997.[8] This asteroid had a projectile fired at it by the spaceshipDiscovery as it passed by on its way to Saturn so that instruments aboard theDiscovery might analyze the asteroid's composition.
In thefilm of the same name, a pair of asteroids is shown, presumably 7794 imagined as abinary asteroid, in rapid travel, with the spaceshipDiscovery One in the background, which given its tiny size must be tens of kilometers away. The representation is consistent with what was already known at the time of the shooting (1965-1968) on the characteristics of asteroids and on the fact that in the main belt the average distance between the bodies that constitute it is many hundreds of thousands of kilometers.
