Discovered by C. Shoemaker MPC designation 4435 Holt Minor planet category Mars-crosser Absolute magnitude 13.2 Discoverer Carolyn S. Shoemaker Asteroid group Mars-crosser asteroid | Discovery date 13 January 1983 Alternative names 1983 AG2 · 1978 PZ2 Discovered 13 January 1983 Orbits Sun Discovery site Palomar Observatory | |
Named after Henry E. Holt
(astronomer) Similar Sun, 5381 Sekhmet, 3554 Amun, Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9, 129P/Shoemaker–Levy | ||
4435 Holt, provisional designation 1983 AG2, is a stony asteroid, classified as an eccentric Mars-crosser, approximately 6 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered by American astronomer Carolyn Shoemaker at the U.S. Palomar Observatory in California, on 13 January 1983.
The S-type asteroid orbits the Sun at a distance of 1.5–3.1 AU once every 3 years and 6 months (1,288 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.34 and an inclination of 22° with respect to the ecliptic. The first precovery was taken at Crimea-Nauchnij in 1978, extending the asteroid's observation arc by 5 years prior to its discovery.
The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo for stony asteroids of 0.20 and derives a diameter of 6.4 kilometer, based on its absolute magnitude of 13.32. The asteroid's rotation period still remains unknown.
The minor planet was named for American planetary geologist and astronomer Henry E. Holt, at NAU and USGS, who has explored the surface of the Moon, its geology and photometric properties during the Apollo and Surveyor programs. After his retirement, he was a principal participant in the Palomar Asteroid and Comet Survey (PACS) from 1983 to 1993. Holt has discovered and co-discovered six comets and 683 minor planets between 1989 and 1993, including 4581 Asclepius, a potentially hazardous asteroid that has made the closest approach to Earth of all numbered asteroids. Naming citation was published on 30 January 1991 (M.P.C. 17656).