9929 McConnell
| File:AnimatedOrbitOf9929McConnell.gif | |||||||||||||
| Discovery | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Discovered by | Oak Ridge Observatory | ||||||||||||
| Discovery date | 24 February 1982 | ||||||||||||
| Designations | |||||||||||||
| MPC designation | 9929 McConnell | ||||||||||||
| 1982 DP1, 1984 WH3, 1996 GZ7 | |||||||||||||
| Orbital characteristics[1] | |||||||||||||
| Epoch 13 January 2016 (JD 2457400.5) | |||||||||||||
| Uncertainty parameter 0 | |||||||||||||
| Observation arc | 12426 days (34.02 yr) | ||||||||||||
| Aphelion | 2.5893789 AU (387.36557 Gm) | ||||||||||||
| Perihelion | 1.9630458 AU (293.66747 Gm) | ||||||||||||
| 2.2762123 AU (340.51651 Gm) | |||||||||||||
| Eccentricity | 0.1375823 | ||||||||||||
| 3.43 yr (1254.3 d) | |||||||||||||
| 353.55101° | |||||||||||||
| Inclination | 6.008591° | ||||||||||||
| 43.743739° | |||||||||||||
| 62.170374° | |||||||||||||
| Earth MOID | 0.987939 AU (147.7936 Gm) | ||||||||||||
| Jupiter MOID | 2.55034 AU (381.525 Gm) | ||||||||||||
| Physical characteristics | |||||||||||||
| Dimensions | ~12.9 km[2] | ||||||||||||
| ~0.01 | |||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||
| 14.4 | |||||||||||||
9929 McConnell is a main belt asteroid. It orbits the Sun once every 3.43 years.[1]
Discovered on February 24, 1982 by the Oak Ridge Observatory, this asteroid was given the provisional designation "1982 DP1". It was later renamed "McConnell" after John C. McConnell, a historian of astronomy.[3]
John C. McConnell FRAS, who was born in 1946, comes from Maghaberry, Northern Ireland, and is well known among both professional and amateur astronomers, takes a particular interest in observational astronomy and astrophotography, and also in the history of Irish astronomy, where he has amassed a vast collection of material. In 1999 he was awarded the Aidan P Fitzgerald Memorial Medal of the Irish Astronomical Association.
The asteroid, (9929) McConnell, was discovered in 1982 at the Oak Ridge Observatory, in Harvard, Massachusetts, which was operated by the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics where Armagh Observatory's former Director Dr. Eric Mervyn Lindsay (1907-1974) spent a number of years working for his Ph.D. more than 70 years ago. The minor planet is very faint, being only 5 miles across and currently lying more than 130 million miles away from the Earth in the constellation of Leo. It has a nearly circular orbit passing close to the inner edge of the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.[1]
