22740 Rayleigh
22740 Rayleigh is a Zhongguo asteroid from the outermost region of the asteroid belt, approximately in diameter. It was discovered on 20 September 1998, by Belgian astronomer Eric Elst at the La Silla Observatory in Chile. It is one of few asteroids located in the 2:1 resonance with Jupiter. The asteroid was named for English physicist and Nobel laureate Lord Rayleigh.
Orbit and classification
Rayleigh is a non-family asteroid from the main belt's background population. It is a member of the small group of Zhongguo asteroids, located in the Hecuba gap near 3.27 AU. 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 asteroid belt at a distance of 2.5–3.9 AU once every 5 years and 10 months. Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.21 and an inclination of 3° with respect to the ecliptic. The body's observation arc begins with its observations as at Klet Observatory in September 1986, or 13 years prior to its official discovery observation at La Silla.