2000 Herschel
2000 Herschel, provisional designation, is a stony Phocaea asteroid and a tumbling slow rotator from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately in diameter. It was discovered 29 July 1960, by German astronomer Joachim Schubart at Sonneberg Observatory in eastern Germany. The S-type asteroid has a long rotation period of 130 hours. It was named after astronomer William Herschel.
Orbit and classification
Herschel is a member of the Phocaea family, a large family of stony asteroids with nearly two thousand known members. It orbits the Sun in the inner main-belt at a distance of 1.7–3.1 AU once every 3 years and 8 months. Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.30 and an inclination of 23° with respect to the ecliptic. It was first identified as at Johannesburg Observatory in 1934, extending the body's observation arc by 26 years prior to its official discovery observation at Sonneberg.The relatively high orbital eccentricity of this object causes it to come close to the orbit of the planet Mars. This means there is a chance it will eventually collide with the planet, with the odds of a collision estimated at 18% per billion orbits.
Naming
This minor planet was named in honour of the English astronomer of German origin William Herschel, who discovered what he called Georgium Sidus. The official was published by the Minor Planet Center on 15 October 1977. While the minor planet with number "1000", 1000 Piazzia, honors the discoverer of the first minor planet, Giuseppe Piazzi, number "2000" does so for Herschel, discoverer of the first telescopic major planet. The asteroid is one of several early "kilo-numbered" minor planets that were dedicated to renowned scientists or institutions including:- 1000 Piazzia named for Giuseppe Piazzi, discoverer of Ceres2000 Herschel for William Herschel who discovered Uranus
- 3000 Leonardo for the Italian polymath of the Renaissance, Leonardo da Vinci
- 4000 Hipparchus for ancient Greek astronomer Hipparchus