9929 McConnell
File:AnimatedOrbitOf9929McConnell.gif | |||||||||||||
Discovery | |||||||||||||
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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 | |||||||||||||
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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]