Discovered by M. Watt Discovery date 14 April 1982 Minor planet category main-belt · Flora Orbits Sun Discoverer Martin Watt Asteroid family Flora family | Discovery site Anderson Mesa Stn. MPC designation 2675 Tolkien Discovered 14 April 1982 Spectral type S-type asteroid Named after J. R. R. Tolkien (writer) | |
Alternative names 1982 GB · 1934 VO
1937 RH · 1939 FR
1949 FO · 1950 QA1
1952 DX · 1969 JE
1969 KB · 1970 RB
1973 QX · 1975 BV Similar Asteroid belt, Sun, 192 Nausikaa, Solar System, 18 Melpomene | ||
2675 Tolkien, provisional designation 1982 GB, is a stony Florian asteroid and extremely slow rotator from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 10 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 14 April 1982, by British astronomer Martin Watt at Lowell's Anderson Mesa Station in Flagstaff, Arizona.
The S-type asteroid is a member of the Flora family, one of the largest groups of stony asteroids in the main-belt. It orbits the Sun at a distance of 2.0–2.4 AU once every 3 years and 3 months (1,202 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.10 and an inclination of 3° with respect to the ecliptic.
In February 2011, photometric observations of Tolkien were taken over the course of twenty-three nights. The obtained light-curve revealed that the body is potentially an extremely slow rotator, that has an outstandingly long rotation period of 7003105800000000000♠1058±30 hours, or 44 days, with a brightness amplitude of 6999100000000000000♠0.1 magnitude (U=2+) . An asteroid typically takes only a few hours to rotate once around its axis. In addition, the body is suspected to be in a in non-principal axis rotation ("tumbling"). Observations were taken from the Via Capote Observatory (VCO) in California, the Czech Ondřejov Observatory, and the private Shed of Science Observatory (also known as S.O.S. Observatory), near the U.S. city of Minneapolis. (Also see § External links).
According to the surveys carried out by the Japanese Akari satellite and the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent NEOWISE mission, the body measures 9.65 and 10.96 kilometers and its surface has an albedo of 0.205 and 0.213, respectively, while the Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes an albedo of 0.24 – derived from 8 Flora, the largest member and namesake of this orbital family – and calculates a diameter of 9.85 kilometers, based on an absolute magnitude of 12.2.
The minor planet is named in honour of J.R.R. Tolkien (1892–1973), an English writer, philologist, and Merton professor of English language at the University of Oxford. He is best known as the author of the fantasy novels The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Tolkien also had a lifelong interest in astronomy. Naming citation was published on 1 December 1982 (M.P.C. 7474).