26858 Misterrogers
26858 Misterrogers, provisional designation, is a stony asteroid and sizable Mars-crosser on an eccentric orbit from the asteroid belt, approximately in diameter. It was discovered on March 21, 1993, by American astronomer Eleanor Helin at the Palomar Observatory in California. The likely S-type asteroid has a rotation period of 8.0 hours. It was named after children's television host Fred Rogers.
Orbit and classification
Misterrogers is a member of the Mars-crossing asteroids, a dynamically unstable group between the main belt and the near-Earth populations, crossing the orbit of Mars at 1.66 AU. It orbits the Sun at a distance of 1.5–3.1 AU once every 3 years and 7 months. Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.34 and an inclination of 22° with respect to the ecliptic.The asteroid was first observed as at the Goethe Link Observatory in September 1952. The body's observation arc begins with a precovery published by the Digitized Sky Survey, taken at Palomar in May 1990, almost 3 years prior to its official discovery observation.
Naming
This minor planet was named after Fred McFeely Rogers, who was the host of the children's television program Mister Rogers' Neighborhood for more than 30 years. The naming was proposed, and citation prepared, by, Director of the Henry Buhl, Jr. Planetarium & Observatory at the Kamin Science Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The official was published by the Minor Planet Center on May 1, 2003.Rogers had a lifelong fascination with the sky and astronomy, obtained a pilot's license while still in high school and also produced with the Kamin Science Center a planetarium show called The Sky above Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, which is still shown at many planetaria across the United States.