2598 Merlin, provisional designation , is a carbonaceous Dorian

asteroid An asteroid is a minor planet of the 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 or icy bodies with no atmosphere. ...

from the central regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 16 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 7 September 1980, by American astronomer Edward Bowell at Lowell's Anderson Mesa Station in Flagstaff, Arizona, United States. The asteroid was named after the legendary wizard

Merlin Merlin ( cy, Myrddin, kw, Marzhin, br, Merzhin) is a mythical figure prominently featured in the legend of King Arthur and best known as a mage, with several other main roles. His usual depiction, based on an amalgamation of historic and le ...

in Arthurian legend.

Classification and orbit

''Merlin'' is a member of the Dora family (), a well-established central

asteroid family An asteroid family is a population of asteroids that share similar proper orbital elements, such as semimajor axis, eccentricity, and orbital inclination. The members of the families are thought to be fragments of past asteroid collisions. An a ...

of more than 1,200 carbonaceous asteroids. The family's namesake is

668 Dora 668 Dora is an asteroid orbiting in 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 bodi ...

. It is alternatively known as the "Zhongolovich family", named after its presumably largest member 1734 Zhongolovich. The Dora family may also contain a subfamily. ''Merlin'' orbits the Sun in the

central Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...

main-belt at a distance of 2.2–3.4 AU once every 4 years and 8 months (1,694 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.22 and an inclination of 8 ° with respect to the ecliptic. In Nombember 1948, the asteroid was first identified at Uccle Observatory, where the body's observation arc begins 32 years prior to its official discovery observation at Anderson Mesa.

Physical characteristics

In the

SMASS classification An asteroid spectral type is assigned to asteroids based on their emission spectrum, color, and sometimes albedo. These types are thought to correspond to an asteroid's surface composition. For small bodies that are not internally differentiat ...

, ''Merlin'' a Ch-type asteroid, a hydrated subtype of the broader carbonaceous C-complex. According to the surveys carried out by the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, ''Merlin'' measures 15.694 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo of 0.049.

Lightcurves

As of 2017, no rotational lightcurve of ''Merlin'' has been obtained from photometric observations. The body's

rotation period The rotation period of a celestial object (e.g., star, gas giant, planet, moon, asteroid) may refer to its sidereal rotation period, i.e. the time that the object takes to complete a single revolution around its axis of rotation relative to the ...

and shape remain unknown.

Naming

This minor planet was named after the sage and sorcerer

, featured mentor of

King Arthur King Arthur ( cy, Brenin Arthur, kw, Arthur Gernow, br, Roue Arzhur) is a legendary king of Britain, and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain. In the earliest traditions, Arthur appears as a ...

in Arthurian legend and

medieval Welsh poetry Medieval Welsh literature is the literature written in the Welsh language during the Middle Ages. This includes material starting from the 5th century AD, when Welsh was in the process of becoming distinct from Common Brittonic, and continuing to ...

. His magic enabled Arthur to pull Excalibur from the rock and become the ''rightwise king born of all England''. The name was suggested by F. Pilcher. The approved naming citation 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 4 August 1982 ().

Notes

There is a book titled Merlin's Tour of the Universe, in which a fictitious character, called Merlin, answers all curious questions a layman would have about astronomy and the solar system. In the book, Merlin's favorite asteroid is Merlin 2598.

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:Merlin 002598 Discoveries by Edward L. G. Bowell Named minor planets 002598 19800907