Discovered by B. A. Skiff MPC designation 4149 Harrison Minor planet category main-belt · Eunomia Discovered 9 March 1984 Discoverer Brian A. Skiff Asteroid family Eunomia family | Discovery date 9 March 1984 Alternative names 1984 EZ Observation arc 39.07 yr (14,269 days) Orbits Sun Named after George Harrison Discovery site Anderson Mesa Station | |
Similar Asteroid belt, Sun, Solar System, (434326) 2004 JG6, 85 Io | ||
4149 Harrison, provisional designation 1984 EZ, is a stony Eunomian asteroid from the middle region of the asteroid belt, approximately 10 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 9 March 1984, by American astronomer Brian A. Skiff at Lowell's Anderson Mesa Station in Flagstaff, Arizona.
The asteroid is a member of the Eunomia family, a large group of S-type asteroids and the most prominent family in the intermediate main-belt. It orbits the Sun at a distance of 2.3–3.0 AU once every 4 years and 4 months (1,590 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.12 and an inclination of 13° with respect to the ecliptic. The first precovery was taken at Palomar Observatory in 1977, extending the asteroid's observation arc by 7 years prior to its discovery.
A rotational light-curve for this asteroid was obtained from photometric observations by Czech astronomer Petr Pravec at Ondřejov Observatory in May 2015. It gave a well-defined rotation period of 7000374900000000000♠3.7490±0.0002 hours with a brightness variation of 0.42 in magnitude (U=3). During the following month, photometric observations at three Italian observatories gave a second light-curve with a period of 7000395600000000000♠3.956±0.001 hours and an amplitude of 0.37 in magnitude (U=2+).
According to the survey carried out by the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, the asteroid measures 10.1 and 10.7 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo of 0.19 and 0.23, respectively, while the Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes an albedo of 0.21 – derived from 15 Eunomia, the family's largest member and namesake – and calculates a diameter of 8.1 kilometers, based on an absolute magnitude of 12.76.
The minor planet was named in honor of guitarist, singer and songwriter, George Harrison (1943–2001), who was the lead guitarist of the English rock band The Beatles, after which the main-belt asteroid 8749 Beatles is named. The minor planets 4147 Lennon, 4148 McCartney and 4150 Starr honor the other three members of the band. Naming citation was published on 10 April 1990 (M.P.C. 16248).