| Discovery[1] | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | F. Kaiser |
| Discovery site | Heidelberg Obs. |
| Discovery date | 24 January 1914 |
| Designations | |
| (777) Gutemberga | |
Named after | Johannes Gutenberg (German inventor)[2] |
| A914 BF · 1926 EF A924 YB · 1914 TZ | |
| Orbital characteristics[3] | |
| Epoch 31 May 2020 (JD 2459000.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 0 | |
| Observation arc | 105.60yr (38,570 d) |
| Aphelion | 3.5831AU |
| Perihelion | 2.8745 AU |
| 3.2288 AU | |
| Eccentricity | 0.1097 |
| 5.80 yr (2,119 d) | |
| 79.152° | |
| 0° 10m 11.64s / day | |
| Inclination | 12.942° |
| 283.27° | |
| 264.44° | |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Dimensions | 66.0 km × 66.0 km |
| 12.838±0.006 h[10] | |
| 9.80[3][7][8][9][12] | |
777 Gutemberga (prov. designation:A914 BFor1914 TZ) is a dark and largebackground asteroid, approximately 66 kilometers (41 miles) in diameter, from the outer regions of theasteroid belt. It was discovered by German astronomerFranz Kaiser at theHeidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory on 24 January 1914.[1] The carbonaceousC-type asteroid (Cb) has arotation period of 12.8 hours. It was named afterJohannes Gutenberg (ca. 1400–1468), who introduced the printing press to Europe and started thePrinting Revolution.[2]
Gutemberga is a non-family asteroid of the main belt'sbackground population when applying thehierarchical clustering method to itsproper orbital elements.[4][5][6] It orbits the Sun in theouter asteroid belt at a distance of 2.9–3.6 AU once every 5 years and 10 months (2,119 days;semi-major axis of 3.23 AU). Its orbit has aneccentricity of 0.11 and aninclination of 13° with respect to theecliptic.[3] The body'sobservation arc begins at Heidelberg on 22 December 1924, almost 11 years after its official discovery observation.[1]
Thisminor planet was named afterJohannes Gutenberg (ca. 1400–1468), a German inventor who started thePrinting Revolution with the introduction of mechanicalmovable type printing. Gutenberg lived and died inMainz and the neighboringEltville am Rhein. Thenaming was mentioned inThe Names of the Minor Planets byPaul Herget in 1955 (H 78).[2] The craterGutenberg on the Moon and the featureRimae Gutenberg, a 223-kilometer longgroove near the crater, were also named after him.[13][14]
In the Tholen-like taxonomy of theSmall Solar System Objects Spectroscopic Survey (S3OS2),Gutemberga is a common, carbonaceousC-type asteroid. In the Bus–Binzel SMASS-like taxonomic variant of the S3OS2, it is a Cb-subtype, which transitions from the C-type to the somewhat brighterB-type asteroid.[5][11]
In January 218, a rotationallightcurve ofGutemberga was obtained fromphotometric observations byTom Polakis at the Command Module Observatory (V02) in Arizona. Lightcurve analysis gave a well-definedrotation period of12.838±0.006 hours with a brightness variation of0.28±0.02magnitude (U=3).[10]
The result supersedes observations by Otmar Nickel of Astronomical Consortium of Mainz from February 2001, which gave a period of12.88 hours with an amplitude of0.25 magnitude (U=2),[a] and observations by Astronomers at thePalomar Transient Factory in California, with a period of12.849±0.0081 hours and an amplitude of0.15 magnitude.(U=2).[12][15]
According to the surveys carried out by the JapaneseAkari satellite, the Infrared Astronomical SatelliteIRAS, and theNEOWISE mission of NASA'sWide-field Infrared Survey Explorer,Gutemberga measures (65.37±1.03), (65.57±1.9) and (71.749±0.095) kilometers in diameter and its surface has analbedo of (0.050±0.002), (0.0494±0.003) and (0.042±0.006), respectively.[7][8][9][16]
TheCollaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link derives an albedo of 0.0494 and a diameter of 65.57 kilometers based on anabsolute magnitude of 9.8.[12] Alternative mean-diameter measurements published by the WISE team include (67.67±1.16 km) and (78.646±0.737 km) with corresponding albedos of (0.051±0.009) and (0.0343±0.0029).[5][12] On 27 June 2008, anasteroid occultation ofGutemberga gave a best-fit ellipse dimension of (66.0 km × 66.0 km), with a poor quality rating of 1. These timed observations are taken when the asteroid passes in front of a distant star.[5]
