Discovered by N. Chernykh MPC designation 2228 Soyuz-Apollo Observation arc 53.72 yr (19,620 days) Orbits Sun Named after Apollo–Soyuz Test Project Asteroid group Asteroid belt | Discovery date 19 July 1977 Discovered 19 July 1977 | |
Alternative names 1977 OH · 1933 SK11952 DT1 · 1963 DD1973 YN3 Discovery site | ||
2228 Soyuz-Apollo, provisional designation 1977 OH, is a carbonaceous Themistian asteroid from the outer region of the asteroid belt, approximately 26 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 19 July 1977, by Soviet–Russian astronomer Nikolai Chernykh at the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory in Nauchnyj on the Crimean peninsula.
The dark C-type asteroid is a member of the Themis family, a dynamical family of outer-belt asteroids with nearly coplanar ecliptical orbits. It orbits the Sun at a distance of 2.6–3.7 AU once every 5 years and 7 months (2,029 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.18 and an inclination of 2° with respect to the ecliptic.
It has a rotation period of 5.4 hours and an albedo of 0.10 and 0.11, as determined by the space-based Akari and WISE missions, respectively, while the Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link (CALL) assumes a lower albedo of 0.08.
The minor planet was named after the joint Soviet-American space flight, the Apollo–Soyuz space program, carried on in 1975. The reversal of the names, "Soyuz–Apollo" rather than "Apollo–Soyuz", was not political, but to prevent confusion with the asteroid 1862 Apollo. Naming citation was published on 1 March 1981 (M.P.C. 5850).