Discovery date 16 October 1977 Alternative names 2287 T-3 · 1990 SO10 Discovered 16 October 1977 Inclination 3.4404° Discovery site Palomar Observatory | MPC designation 8776 Campestris Minor planet category main-belt · (middle) Aphelion 3.24 m Orbits Sun Asteroid group Asteroid belt | |
Discovered by C. J. van Houten
I. van Houten
T. Gehrels Named after Anthus campestris
(endangered bird) Discoverers Tom Gehrels, Cornelis Johannes van Houten, Ingrid van Houten-Groeneveld | ||
8776 Campestris, provisional designation 2287 T-3, is a stony asteroid from the middle region of the asteroid belt, about 10 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 16 October 1977, by Dutch astronomer couple Cornelis and Ingrid van Houten at Leiden Observatory, and Dutch–American astronomer Tom Gehrels at the U.S Palomar Observatory in California.
The S-type asteroid orbits the Sun at a distance of 2.1–3.2 AU once every 4 years and 5 months (1,611 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.20 and an inclination of 3° with respect to the ecliptic.
In 2009, two photometric light-curve analysis at the U.S Palomar Transient Factory, California, gave it a rotation period of 7000929820000000000♠9.2982±0.0118 and 7000929900000000000♠9.2990±0.0064 hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.35 and 0.38 in magnitude, respectively (U=2). According to the survey carried out by the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, the asteroid measures 10.5 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo of 0.058. The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link (CALL) assumes a higher albedo of 0.10 and calculates a diameter of 7.5 kilometers.
The special designation T-3 stands for the third Palomar–Leiden Trojan survey, named after the fruitful collaboration of the Palomar and Leiden Observatory in the 1960s and 1970s. Gehrels used Palomar's Samuel Oschin telescope (also known as the 48-inch Schmidt Telescope), and shipped the photographic plates to Cornelis and Ingrid van Houten-Groeneveld at Leiden Observatory where astrometry was carried out. The trio of astronomers are credited with the discovery of 4,619 minor planets.
The minor planet is named for the passerine bird Anthus campestris, or tawny pipit. It is on the Dutch Red List of birds endangered in the Netherlands. It is also on the European Red List of Birds as of 2015.