3688 Navajo

3688 Navajo, provisional designation 1981 FD, is a Griqua asteroid and a 2:1 Jupiter librator on an eccentric, cometary-like orbit from the outermost regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 6 kilometers (4 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 30 March 1981, by American astronomer Edward Bowell at the Anderson Mesa Station near Flagstaff, Arizona.[1] The dark P-type asteroid was named for the Native American Navajo people.

3688 Navajo
Discovery [1]
Discovered byE. Bowell
Discovery siteAnderson Mesa Stn.
Discovery date30 March 1981
Designations
(3688) Navajo
Named after
Navajo people [1]
(Native American)
1981 FD
main-belt [1] · (outer) [2]
Griqua [3] · background [4]
ACO [5]
Orbital characteristics [2]
Epoch 23 March 2018 (JD 2458200.5)
Uncertainty parameter 0
Observation arc36.40 yr (13,294 d)
Aphelion4.7627 AU
Perihelion1.6806 AU
3.2216 AU
Eccentricity0.4783
5.78 yr (2,112 d)
148.89°
0° 10m 13.44s / day
Inclination2.5593°
19.974°
137.91°
Earth MOID0.6910 AU (269 LD)
Jupiter MOID0.2392 AU
TJupiter2.9960
Physical characteristics
Mean diameter
6.086±0.051 km[6]
0.047±0.012[6]
P [5]
15.1[2]

    Orbit and classification

    Navajo is an asteroid in a cometary orbit (ACO), with no observable coma but with a Tisserand's parameter just below the defined the threshold of 3.0. ACO's may be extinct comets.[5] It is a member of the small dynamical Griqua group, a marginally unstable group of asteroids observed in the Hecuba gap, a 2:1 resonant zone with the gas giant Jupiter.[3] The group is named after its largest member, 1362 Griqua.

    Navajo is a non-family asteroid from the main belt's background population.[4] It orbits the Sun in the outermost asteroid belt at a distance of 1.7–4.8 AU once every 5 years and 9 months (2,112 days; semi-major axis of 3.22 AU). Its orbit has a high eccentricity of 0.48 and an inclination of 3° with respect to the ecliptic.[2] The body's observation arc begins with a precovery taken at Siding Spring Observatory, just weeks before its official discovery observation at Anderson Mesa.[1]

    Physical characteristics

    Navajo has been characterized as a dark and primitive P-type asteroid.[5] It has an absolute magnitude of 15.1.[2] As of 2018, no rotational lightcurve of Navajo has been obtained from photometric observations. The body's rotation period, pole and shape remain unknown.[2]

    Diameter and albedo

    According to the survey carried out by the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, Navajo measures 6.086 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo of 0.047.[6]

    Naming

    This minor planet was named after the indigenous North American Navajo people, inhabitants of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah in the Southwestern United States. The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 2 April 1988 (M.P.C. 12975).[7]

    References
    1. "3688 Navajo (1981 FD)". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 16 May 2018.
    2. "JPL Small-Body Database Browser: 3688 Navajo (1981 FD)" (2017-07-04 last obs.). Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved 16 May 2018.
    3. Roig, F.; Nesvorný, D.; Ferraz-Mello, S. (September 2002). "Asteroids in the 2 : 1 resonance with Jupiter: dynamics and size distribution" (PDF). Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 335 (2): 417–431. Bibcode:2002MNRAS.335..417R. doi:10.1046/j.1365-8711.2002.05635.x. Retrieved 16 May 2018.
    4. "Asteroid 3688 Navajo". Small Bodies Data Ferret. Retrieved 15 May 2018.
    5. Licandro, J.; Alvarez-Candal, A.; de León, J.; Pinilla-Alonso, N.; Lazzaro, D.; Campins, H. (April 2008). "Spectral properties of asteroids in cometary orbits" (PDF). Astronomy and Astrophysics. 481 (3): 861–877. Bibcode:2008A&A...481..861L. doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20078340. Retrieved 16 May 2018.
    6. Masiero, Joseph R.; Mainzer, A. K.; Grav, T.; Bauer, J. M.; Cutri, R. M.; Dailey, J.; et al. (November 2011). "Main Belt Asteroids with WISE/NEOWISE. I. Preliminary Albedos and Diameters". The Astrophysical Journal. 741 (2): 20. arXiv:1109.4096. Bibcode:2011ApJ...741...68M. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/741/2/68. Retrieved 16 May 2018.
    7. "MPC/MPO/MPS Archive". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 16 May 2018.

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