| Discovery[1] | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | C. Shoemaker E. Shoemaker |
| Discovery site | Palomar Obs. |
| Discovery date | 13 March 1983 |
| Designations | |
| (3854) George | |
Named after | George Shoemaker[1][2] (discoverer's father-in-law) |
| 1983 EA | |
| Mars-crosser[3] · Hungaria[1][4] background[5] | |
| Orbital characteristics[3] | |
| Epoch 27 April 2019 (JD 2458600.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 0 | |
| Observation arc | 35.61yr (13,007 d) |
| Aphelion | 2.1463AU |
| Perihelion | 1.6384 AU |
| 1.8923 AU | |
| Eccentricity | 0.1342 |
| 2.60 yr (951 d) | |
| 13.729° | |
| 0° 22m 42.96s / day | |
| Inclination | 24.207° |
| 8.4004° | |
| 87.500° | |
| Earth MOID | 0.7879 AU (306.9LD) |
| Physical characteristics | |
| 3.023±0.554 km[6][7] 3.26±0.65 km[8] 3.62±0.36 km[9] | |
| 3.3398±0.0002 h[10] | |
| 0.22[8] 0.308[9] 0.458[6][7] | |
| S(assumed)[4] | |
| 14.00[6][7] 14.10[3][4][9] 14.2[1] 14.72[8] | |
3854 George,provisional designation:1983 EA, is a stonyHungaria asteroid andMars-crosser from the innermost regions of theasteroid belt, approximately 3.5 kilometers (2.2 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 13 March 1983, by American astronomer coupleCarolyn andEugene Shoemaker at thePalomar Observatory in California.[1] The unlikely synchronousbinary system has arotation period of 3.3 hours.[4] It was named after the discoverer's father-in-law,George Shoemaker.[1]
George is a member of theMars-crossing asteroids, a dynamically unstablegroup located between themain belt and thenear-Earth populations, crossing the orbit ofMars at 1.66 AU.[3] It is also a dynamical member of theHungaria group.[1][4]
It orbits the Sun in theinnermost asteroid belt at a distance of 1.6–2.1 AU once every 2 years and 7 months (951 days;semi-major axis of 1.89 AU). Its orbit has a relatively loweccentricity of 0.13 and aninclination of 24° with respect to theecliptic.[3] The body'sobservation arc begins with its official discovery observation atPalomar in March 1983.[1]
AlthoughGeorge is a member of the dynamical Hungaria group, it is not a member of the collisionalHungaria family but an unrelated, non-family asteroid from thebackground population, according toNesvorý,Milani and Knežević.[5][11][12] However, in a 2014-abstract from theAsteroids, Comets, Meteors Conference in Helsinki (ACM 2014),George was mentioned as the principal body of a newly discovered low-density family in the Hungaria region.[13]
Thisminor planet was named afterGeorge Estel Shoemaker (1904–1960), father ofCarolyn Shoemaker's husbandEugene Shoemaker (1928–1997),[2] who has previously been credited as the second discoverer.[1] The official naming citation was published by theMinor Planet Center on 12 December 1989 (M.P.C. 15574).[14]
George is an assumed stonyS-type asteroid.[4]
In November 2005, a rotationallightcurve ofGeorge was obtained fromphotometric observations byBrian Warner at hisPalmer Divide Observatory in Colorado, United States. Lightcurve analysis gave arotation period of3.3398±0.0002 hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.14magnitude (U=3). The observations showed possible hints ofGeorge being abinary asteroid with aminor-planet moon in its orbit. However, no conclusive evidence was produced due to insufficient data for a valid lightcurve analysis.[10]
Follow-up observations by Warner in February 2009 gave a concurring period of3.338±0.001 hours and an amplitude of 0.12 magnitude (U=2) with no indications of mutual occultation/eclipsing events.[15][a]
According to the survey carried out by theNEOWISE mission of NASA'sWide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE),George measures between 3.02 and 3.26 kilometers in diameter and its surface has analbedo between 0.22 and 0.46.[6][7][8] In 2017, a WISE-study dedicated to Mars-crossing asteroids gave a somewhat larger diameter of 3.62 kilometers with an albedo of 0.308.[9] TheCollaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes an albedo of 0.30 and calculates a diameter of 3.67 kilometers based on anabsolute magnitude of 14.1.[4]
