Discovered by B. A. Skiff MPC designation 3325 TARDIS Discovered 3 May 1984 Orbits Sun Discovery site Anderson Mesa Station | Discovery date 3 May 1984 Minor planet category main-belt · (outer) Aphelion 3.23 m Discoverer Brian A. Skiff Asteroid group Asteroid belt | |
Named after TARDIS
(fictional time machine) Alternative names 1984 JZ · 1958 VB1
1969 TP3 · 1975 VC8
1975 WF1 Similar Asteroid belt, Sun, Solar System, (434326) 2004 JG6 | ||
3325 TARDIS, provisional designation 1984 JZ, is a dark asteroid from the outer region of the asteroid belt, approximately 29 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 3 May 1984, by American astronomer Brian Skiff at Lowell's Anderson Mesa Station, Arizona, United States.
The asteroid orbits the Sun at a distance of 3.1–3.2 AU once every 5 years and 8 months (2,074 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.01 and an inclination of 22° with respect to the ecliptic. The first precovery was taken at the U.S. Goethe Link Observatory in 1958, extending the asteroid's observation arc by 26 years prior to its discovery.
According to the survey carried out by the Infrared Astronomical Satellite IRAS and NASA's NEOWISE mission, the asteroid measures 28.2 and 29.7 kilometers in diameter, and its surface has a low albedo of 0.055 and 0.067, respectively. Albedos between 0.05 and 0.06 are typical for carbonaceous asteroids of the outer main-belt. As of 2016, no rotational light-curves have been obtained and the asteroid's period and shape still remains unknown.
It is named after the acronym TARDIS (Time And Relative Dimensions In Space), the space and time travel vehicle used by the Doctor in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. The fictional time machine looks like a London police telephone box from the 1960s. Naming citation was published on 11 March 1990 (M.P.C. 16041).