Discovered by E. Bowell MPC designation 7638 Gladman Discovered 26 October 1984 Discoverer Edward L. G. Bowell Asteroid group Asteroid belt | Discovery date 26 October 1984 Minor planet category main-belt · (middle) Orbits Sun Discovery site Anderson Mesa Station | |
Named after Brett J. Gladman
(astronomer) Alternative names 1984 UX · 1969 AF
1988 UN Similar Sun, Caliban, Herse, Siarnaq, Ferdinand | ||
7638 Gladman, provisional designation 1984 UX, is a stony asteroid from the middle region of the asteroid belt, approximately 6 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 26 October 1984, by American astronomer Edward Bowell at Lowell's Anderson Mesa Station near Flagstaff, Arizona.
The S-type asteroid orbits the Sun at a distance of 1.7–3.3 AU once every 4.04 years (1,477 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.31 and an inclination of 7° with respect to the ecliptic. Gladman was first identified as "1969 AF" at Crimea–Nauchnij in 1969. The asteroid's observation arc however begins with its first used observation at Palomar Observatory in November 1984, or one month after its official discovery.
Three rotational light-curves have been obtained for Gladman from photometric observations. The first observation from October 2014, by French astronomer Laurent Bernasconi only gave a fragmentary light-curve with a rotation period of 15 hours and brightness variation of 0.21 magnitude (U=1+). Subsequent photometric observations by astronomer James Brinsfield at the Via Capote Observatory (G69) in October 2010 and by the Palomar Transient Factory in March 2014, gave a rotation period of 7001173000000000000♠17.3 and 7001161956000000000♠16.1956 hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.50 and 0.25, respectively (U=2/2).
According to the survey carried out by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent NEOWISE mission, the asteroid measures 5.8 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo of 0.248, while the Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo for stony asteroids of 0.20 and calculates a diameter of 5.9 kilometers, based on an absolute magnitude of 13.5.
The minor planet was named for Canadian astronomer Brett J. Gladman (b. 1966), discoverer of minor planets and co-discoverer of 6 irregular moons of Uranus: Caliban, Sycorax, Prospero, Setebos, Stephano and Ferdinand. He participated in surveys of trans-Neptunian objects. He is also known for his research and modeling on the dynamical evolution and transport of near-Earth objects and meteorites, respectively. Naming citation was published on 28 July 1999 (M.P.C. 35486).