Discovery date 23 March 1985 Named after Canterbury (province) Minor planet category main-belt Absolute magnitude 12.7 Asteroid group Asteroid belt | MPC designation 3563 Canterbury Alternative names 1985 FE; 1978 VL6 Discovered 23 March 1985 Orbits Sun | |
Discovered by A. C. Gilmore
P. M. Kilmartin Discovery site Mount John University Observatory Discoverers Alan C. Gil, Pamela M. Kilmartin People also search for Sun, 5818 (1989 RC1), 4409 Kissling | ||
3563 Canterbury, provisionally known as 1985 FE, is a main belt asteroid with a perihelion of 2.29 AU. It has an eccentricity of 0.180 and an orbital period of 1,703 days (4.66 years).
Canterbury has an average orbital speed of 17.81462866 km/s and an inclination of 6.94642°.
The asteroid was discovered on March 23, 1985, by Alan C. Gilmore and Pamela M. Kilmartin, both from the Mount John University Observatory (MJUO) in New Zealand.
It is named after New Zealand's Canterbury Province, on the eastern side of the South Island. The name also honors the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, of which MJUO is a field station. The region was named after the Canterbury Association formed in England in 1848 with the purpose of organizing an idealized Anglican settlement in New Zealand.