Discovered by P. Pravec MPC designation 7204 Ondřejov Minor planet category main-belt · (middle) Absolute magnitude 13.7 Discoverer Petr Pravec Asteroid group Asteroid belt | Discovery date 3 April 1995 Alternative names 1995 GH · 1980 WM3 Discovered 3 April 1995 Orbits Sun Discovery site Ondřejov Observatory | |
Named after Ondřejov
(town and observatory) | ||
7204 Ondřejov, provisional designation 1995 GH, is a stony asteroid from the middle region of the asteroid belt, approximately 6 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 3 April 1995, by Czech astronomer Petr Pravec at Ondřejov Observatory near Prague, Czech Republic. This asteroid was the observatory's first numbered minor planet discovery.
The S-type asteroid orbits the Sun at a distance of 2.3–3.0 AU once every 4 years and 4 months (1,593 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.12 and an inclination of 5° with respect to the ecliptic. The first precovery was taken at Palomar Observatory in 1980, extending the asteroid's observation arc by 15 years prior to its discovery.
A rotational light-curve was obtained based on a photometric observations at the U.S. Palomar Transient Factory, California, in December 2011. It showed a rotation period of 7000523339999999999♠5.2334±0.0101 hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.55 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 5.9 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo of 0.18, while the Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a lower albedo of 0.10 and calculates a diameter of 6.3 kilometers.
The minor planet was named for both, the Czech village of Ondřejov, and its discovering Ondřejov Observatory, founded in 1898. It is the Czech Republic's oldest astronomical observatory still in use. In 1953, the observatory was integrated into the Astronomical Institute and is now also owned by the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic. Ondřejov is located about 35 kilometers southeast of the country's capital, Prague. Naming citation was published on 22 February 1997 (M.P.C. 29149).