Discovered by E. Bowell MPC designation 7866 Sicoli Orbital period 1,381 days Orbits Sun Asteroid family Nysa family | Discovery date 13 October 1982 Minor planet category main-belt · Nysa Discovered 13 October 1982 Discoverer Edward L. G. Bowell Discovery site Anderson Mesa Station | |
Named after Piero Sicoli
(discoverer of minor planets) Alternative names 1982 TK · 1954 CT
1959 OD Similar 7166 Kennedy, Sun, 135 Hertha | ||
7866 Sicoli, provisional designation 1982 TK, is a stony Nysa asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 6 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 13 October 1982, by American astronomer Edward Bowell at Lowell's Anderson Mesa Station near Flagstaff, Arizona.
The S-type asteroid is a member of the stony subgroup of the Nysa family, one of the smaller families in the main-belt, named after its namesake, 44 Nysa. The body orbits the Sun at a distance of 1.9–2.9 AU once every 3 years and 9 months (1,382 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.21 and an inclination of 3° with respect to the ecliptic. The first precovery was taken at Palomar Mountain in 1954, extending the asteroid's observation arc by 28 years prior to its discovery.
According to the survey carried out by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent NEOWISE mission, the asteroid measures 6.3 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo of 0.246, while the Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo for stony asteroids of 0.21 and calculates a diameter of 5.6 kilometers, based on an absolute magnitude of 13.3. As of 2016, no rotational light-curve has been obtained for this asteroid and its rotation period and shape remain unknown.
The minor planet was named in honor of Italian astronomer Piero Sicoli (b. 1954), a discoverer of minor planets and Observation Coordinator at the Sormano Astronomical Observatory in northern Italy. Naming citation was published on 28 July 1999 (M.P.C. 35488).