3430 Bradfield
3430 Bradfield is a stony Agnia asteroid from the central regions of the asteroid belt, approximately in diameter. It was discovered on 9 October 1980, by American astronomer Carolyn Shoemaker at the Palomar Observatory in California. The Sq-type asteroid was named after comet hunter William A. Bradfield.
Orbit and classification
When applying the hierarchical clustering method to its proper orbital elements according to Nesvorný, Bradfield is a member of the Agnia family, a very large family of stony asteroids with more than 2000 known members. They most likely formed from the breakup of a basalt object, which in turn was spawned from a larger parent body that underwent igneous differentiation. The family's parent body and namesake is the asteroid 847 Agnia. In the 1995-HCM analysis by Zappalà, however, it is a member of the Liberatrix family.It orbits the Sun in the central main-belt at a distance of 2.5–3.0 AU once every 4 years and 7 months. Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.10 and an inclination of 4° with respect to the ecliptic. The body's observation arc begins with its observations as at Cerro El Roble Observatory in April 1974, more than 6 years prior to its official discovery observation at Palomar.