Discovered by LONEOS Observation arc 8180 days (22.40 yr) Absolute magnitude 14.6 Discovery site Anderson Mesa Station MPC designation 18117 | Discovery date 5 July 2000 Discovered 5 July 2000 Orbits Sun Asteroid group Asteroid belt | |
Alternative names 2000 NY23
1999 FB22
1997 WU27
1993 RK8 Aphelion 2.5579275 AU (382.66051 Gm) Perihelion 2.1454602 AU (320.95628 Gm) Discoverer Lowell Observatory Near-Earth-Object Search | ||
18117 Jonhodge (2000 NY23) is a Main-belt asteroid discovered on July 5, 2000 by the LONEOS program at the Anderson Mesa Station of the Lowell Observatory near Flagstaff, Arizona. It was named in honor of Jon Hodge.
Naming of asteroid
Named in honor and recognition of Jonathan T. Hodge ("Jon Hodge") (b. 1948 – January 4, 2006), with the following citation:
"Jonathon Hodge (b. 1948) has taught at California's Santa Monica College for more than 30 years and has made an enormous contribution to the dissemination of astronomy and science to college students, schoolchildren and the general public."Hodge taught at Santa Monica College and served as the director (1976–2005) of the Santa Monica College Planetarium (now Drescher Planetarium), following an earlier period as a regular lecturer at the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles. Hodge also coordinated an annual astronomical lecture series at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Hodge, along with astronomy professor “Woody” Sobel [Heywood Sobel], was instrumental in encouraging Robert P. Lozano to establish the Santa Monica Amateur Astronomy Club in 1981. Hodge was a member of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific and the International Planetarium Society. Hodge in his younger years majored in astronomy and graduated from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles with a degree in the history of medieval science, a side interest that would serve him well during his career in education and planetariums.
Proposal for asteroid honor by Thor Dockweiler to Simon P. Balm (UCLA and Santa Monica College), who then submitted it to Donald K. Yeomans at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).