Discovered by L. Chernykh Absolute magnitude 12.7 | Discovery date 15 October 1969 Discovered 15 October 1969 Orbits Sun Asteroid group Asteroid belt | |
Alternative names 1969 TH6 · 1952 BD11974 XF · 1976 GD3A924 BE Minor planet category main-belt · Dora family Discovery site | ||
2807 Karl Marx, provisional designation 1969 TH6, is a carbonaceous asteroid from the middle region of the asteroid belt, approximately 17 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 15 October 1969, by Russian astronomer Lyudmila Chernykh at the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory in Nauchnyj on the Crimean peninsula.
The asteroid is classified as a dark C-type asteroid in the SMASS taxonomy. Karl Marx is also a member of the Dora family. It orbits the Sun at a distance of 2.3–3.3 AU once every 4 years and 8 months (1,707 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.18 and an inclination of 8° with respect to the ecliptic. First identified as 1924 BE at Heidelberg Observatory in 1924, its first used observation was a precovery taken at Palomar Observatory in 1954, extending the body's observation arc by 15 years prior to its official discovery observation.
According to the survey carried out by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent NEOWISE mission, the asteroid measures 16.9 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo of 0.057. As of 2016, the body's rotation period and shape remains unknown.
The minor planet is named after German philosopher, economist and revolutionary socialist Karl Marx (1818–1883), student of the theories about society, economics and politics, and author of Das Kapital, the foundational theoretical text of modern communist thought. Naming citation was published on 24 July 1983 (M.P.C. 8065).