(38984) 2000 UZ4
is carbonaceous Zhongguo asteroid from the outermost regions of the asteroid belt, approximately in diameter. It was discovered on 24 October 2000, by astronomers with Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research at the Lincoln Laboratory's Experimental Test Site near Socorro, New Mexico, in the United States. The likely elongated C-type asteroid has a rotation period of 19.20 hours.
Orbit and classification
is a non-family asteroid from the main belt's background population, and a member of the small group of Zhongguo asteroids, located in the Hecuba gap and locked in a 2:1 mean-motion resonance with the gas giant Jupiter. Contrary to the nearby unstable Griqua group, the orbits of the Zhongguos are stable over half a billion years.It orbits the Sun in the outer main-belt at a distance of 2.5–4.1 AU once every 6.04 years. Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.24 and an inclination of 0° with respect to the ecliptic. The body's observation arc begins with a precovery taken by Spacewatch in February 1996, more than 4 years prior to its official discovery observation at Socorro.