Minorplanet: | yes |
3951 Zichichi | |
Background: |
|
Discovery Ref: |   |
Discovered: | 13 February 1986 |
Mpc Name: | (3951) Zichichi |
Alt Names: | 1938 UG 1979 DR |
Named After: | Antonino Zichichi |
Mp Category: | main-beltFlora  |
Orbit Ref: |   |
Epoch: | 4 September 2017 (JD 2458000.5) |
Uncertainty: | 0 |
Observation Arc: | 40.56 yr (14,816 days) |
Perihelion: | 1.9320 AU |
Semimajor: | 2.3394 AU |
Eccentricity: | 0.1742 |
Period: | 3.58 yr (1,307 days) |
Mean Motion: | / day |
Inclination: | 5.4133° |
Asc Node: | 270.04° |
Arg Peri: | 151.72° |
Satellites: | 1 |
Spectral Type: | S  |
Abs Magnitude: | 12.8 |
3951 Zichichi, provisional designation, is a stony Florian asteroid and binary system from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 7 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 12 February 1986, by staff members at the San Vittore Observatory near Bologna, Italy, and named after physicist Antonino Zichichi.
Zichichi is a S-type asteroid and member of the Flora family, one of the largest collisional populations of stony asteroids in the main-belt. It orbits the Sun in the inner main-belt at a distance of 1.9–2.7 AU once every 3 years and 7 months (1,307 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.17 and an inclination of 5° with respect to the ecliptic.
A minor-planet moon was discovered orbiting at a distance of 16 km in 2006, but not announced until 2011.
This minor planet was named after Italian nuclear physicist Antonino Zichichi. The approved naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 20 May 1989 .