Discovery date 13 October 1990 Minor planet category main-belt · (outer) Absolute magnitude 13.7 Asteroid group Asteroid belt | MPC designation 14871 Pyramus Discovered 13 October 1990 Orbits Sun | |
Discovered by L. D. Schmadel
F. Börngen Named after Pyramus
(Classical mythology) Alternative names 1990 TH7 · 1972 TJ3
1978 TW4 Discovery site Karl Schwarzschild Observatory Discoverers Freimut Börngen, Lutz D. Schmadel Similar Sun, 76 Freia, 1943 Anteros, 875 Nymphe, 80 Sappho | ||
14871 Pyramus, provisional designation 1990 TH7, is an asteroid from the outer region of the asteroid belt, roughly 9 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 13 October 1990 by German astronomers Lutz Schmadel and Freimut Börngen at the Karl Schwarzschild Observatory in Tautenburg, Germany.
The asteroid is one of very few bodies located in the 2 : 1 mean motion resonance with the giant planet Jupiter. It orbits the Sun at a distance of 2.6–4.0 AU once every 5 years and 12 months (2,186 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.22 and an inclination of 1° with respect to the ecliptic. The first precovery was taken at Palomar Observatory in 1954, extending the asteroid's observation arc by 36 years prior to its discovery. As of 2016, the asteroid's effective size, its composition and albedo, as well as its rotation period and shape remain unknown.
A generic diameter of 4 to 9 kilometers for Pyramus can be calculated based on an absolute magnitude of 13.9 and an albedo in the range of 0.05 to 0.25. According to the survey carried out by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent NEOWISE mission, Pyramus measures 9.2 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo of 0.069.
The minor planet is named from Greco-Roman mythology after Pyramus, the lover of Thisbe (see minor planet 88 Thisbe) from which the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet ultimately originated. As narrated in Ovid's Metamorphoses, the two ill-fated lovers committed suicide as their parents were against their marriage. The asteroid's name was proposed by Austrian amateur astronomer Herbert Raab. The citation mentions that the "two lovers are now finally united forever in the asteroid belt". Naming citation was published on 6 January 2003 (M.P.C. 47301).