2003 Harding, provisional designation , is a carbonaceous Eoan

asteroid An asteroid is a minor planet of the Solar System#Inner solar system, inner Solar System. Sizes and shapes of asteroids vary significantly, ranging from 1-meter rocks to a dwarf planet almost 1000 km in diameter; they are rocky, metallic o ...

from the outer regions of the

asteroid belt The asteroid belt is a torus-shaped region in the Solar System, located roughly between the orbits of the planets Jupiter and Mars. It contains a great many solid, irregularly shaped bodies, of many sizes, but much smaller than planets, called ...

, approximately 18 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered during the Palomar–Leiden survey on 24 September 1960, by astronomers

Ingrid Ingrid may refer to: * Ingrid (given name) * Ingrid (record label), and artist collective * Ingrid Burley, rapper known mononymously as Ingrid * Tropical Storm Ingrid, various cyclones * 1026 Ingrid 1026 Ingrid, provisional designation , is a sto ...

and

Cornelis van Houten Cornelis Johannes van Houten (18 February 1920 – 24 August 2002) was a Dutch astronomer, sometimes referred to as Kees van Houten. Early life and education Born in The Hague, he spent his entire career at Leiden University except for a brief ...

at Leiden, and

Tom Gehrels Anton M.J. "Tom" Gehrels (February 21, 1925 – July 11, 2011) was a Dutch–American astronomer, Professor of Planetary Sciences, and Astronomer at the University of Arizona, Tucson. Biography Youth and education Gehrels was born at Haa ...

at Palomar, California. The asteroid was later named after astronomer Karl Ludwig Harding.

Orbit and characterization

The asteroid is a member of the

Eos family The Eos family (''adj. Eoan'' ; ) is a very large asteroid family located in the outer region of the asteroid belt. The family of K-type asteroids is believed to have formed as a result of an ancient catastrophic collision. The family's parent body ...

. Orbiting the Sun at a distance of 2.7–3.4 AU once every 5 years and 4 months, the asteroid's path is nearly coplanar to the plane of the ecliptic with an

orbital inclination Orbital inclination measures the tilt of an object's orbit around a celestial body. It is expressed as the angle between a reference plane and the orbital plane or axis of direction of the orbiting object. For a satellite orbiting the Ear ...

of less than 2 degrees. It has a short rotation period of three hours. The survey designation "P-L" stands for ''Palomar–Leiden'', named after

Palomar Observatory Palomar Observatory is an astronomical research observatory in San Diego County, California, United States, in the Palomar Mountain Range. It is owned and operated by the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). Research time at the observat ...

and

Leiden Observatory Leiden Observatory ( nl, Sterrewacht Leiden) is an astronomical institute of Leiden University, in the Netherlands. Established in 1633 to house the quadrant of Rudolph Snellius, it is the oldest operating university observatory in the world, wit ...

, which collaborated on the fruitful Palomar–Leiden survey in the 1960s. Gehrels used Palomar's

Samuel Oschin telescope The Samuel Oschin telescope, also called the Oschin Schmidt, is a Schmidt camera at the Palomar Observatory in northern San Diego County, California. It consists of a 49.75-inch Schmidt corrector plate and a 72-inch (f/2.5) mirror. The instrument ...

(also known as the 48-inch Schmidt Telescope), and shipped the

photographic plate Photographic plates preceded photographic film as a capture medium in photography, and were still used in some communities up until the late 20th century. The light-sensitive emulsion of silver salts was coated on a glass plate, typically thi ...

s to Ingrid and Cornelis van Houten at Leiden Observatory where

astrometry Astrometry is a branch of astronomy that involves precise measurements of the positions and movements of stars and other celestial bodies. It provides the kinematics and physical origin of the Solar System and this galaxy, the Milky Way. Histor ...

was carried out. The trio are credited with the discovery of several thousand asteroid discoveries.

Naming

The asteroid is named after German astronomer Karl Ludwig Harding (1765–1834), who discovered the minor planet 3 Juno. He is also honored by the lunar crater ''

Harding Harding may refer to: People *Harding (surname) *Maureen Harding Clark (born 1946), Irish jurist Places Australia * Harding River Iran * Harding, Iran, a village in South Khorasan Province South Africa * Harding, KwaZulu-Natal United Sta ...

''. The official was published by the

Minor Planet Center The Minor Planet Center (MPC) is the official body for observing and reporting on minor planets under the auspices of the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Founded in 1947, it operates at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. Function ...

on 15 October 1977 ().

References

External links

Asteroid Lightcurve Database (LCDB)
query form

)
Dictionary of Minor Planet Names
Google books

– Observatoire de Genève, Raoul Behrend

– Minor Planet Center * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Harding 002003 Discoveries by Cornelis Johannes van Houten Discoveries by Ingrid van Houten-Groeneveld Discoveries by Tom Gehrels 6559 Named minor planets 19600924