3047 Goethe, provisional designation , is a bright background

asteroid An asteroid is a minor planet—an object larger than a meteoroid that is neither a planet nor an identified comet—that orbits within the Solar System#Inner Solar System, inner Solar System or is co-orbital with Jupiter (Trojan asteroids). As ...

from the central regions of the

asteroid belt The asteroid belt is a torus-shaped region in the Solar System, centered on the Sun and roughly spanning the space between the orbits of the planets Jupiter and Mars. It contains a great many solid, irregularly shaped bodies called asteroids ...

, approximately in diameter. It was discovered on 24 September 1960, by Dutch astronomer couple

Ingrid Ingrid may refer to: * Ingrid (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Ingrid Burley (born 1986), rapper known mononymously as Ingrid * Ingrid (record label), also an artist collective * Tropical Storm Ingrid, various cy ...

and

Cornelis van Houten Cornelis Johannes "Kees" van Houten (18 February 1920 – 24 August 2002) was a Dutch astronomer. Early life and education Born in The Hague, he spent his entire career at Leiden University except for a brief period (1954–1956) as a research a ...

on photographic plates taken by Dutch–American astronomer

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 Ha ...

at the

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

in California, United States. The asteroid was named after German poet

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Johann Wolfgang (von) Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a wide-ranging influence on Western literature, literary, Polit ...

Orbit and classification

''Goethe'' is a non-

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

asteroid of the main belt's background population. It orbits the Sun in the central asteroid belt at a distance of 2.6–2.7 AU once every 4 years and 3 months (1,569 days;

semi-major axis In geometry, the major axis of an ellipse is its longest diameter: a line segment that runs through the center and both foci, with ends at the two most widely separated points of the perimeter. The semi-major axis (major semiaxis) is the longe ...

of 2.64 AU). Its orbit has a low orbital eccentricity, eccentricity of 0.03 and a low orbital inclination, inclination of 2Degree (angle), ° with respect to the ecliptic. The body's observation arc begins with its official discovery observation at Palomar in September 1960. In May 2156, it will pass at from the asteroid 29 Amphitrite at a relative velocity of 1.66 km/s.

Physical characteristics

According to the survey carried out by the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, ''Goethe'' measures 5.846 kilometers in diameter and its surface has a notably high astronomical albedo, albedo of 0.362. As of 2018, no rotational lightcurve of ''Goethe'' has been obtained from Photometry (astronomy), photometric observations. The body's rotation period, Poles of astronomical bodies, pole and shape remain unknown.

Palomar–Leiden survey

The survey designation "P-L" stands for ''Palomar–Leiden'', named after Palomar Observatory and Leiden Observatory, which collaborated on the fruitful Palomar–Leiden survey in the 1960s. Gehrels used Palomar's Samuel Oschin telescope (also known as the 48-inch Schmidt Telescope), and shipped the photographic plates to Ingrid and Cornelis van Houten at Leiden Observatory where astrometry was carried out. The trio are credited with the discovery of :Discoveries by the Palomar–Leiden survey, several thousand asteroid discoveries.

Naming

This minor planet was named after German poet and playwright

(1749-1832). The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 29 September 1985 (). The Goethe Basin on Mercury was also named in his honor.

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:Goethe Background asteroids, 003047 Discoveries by Cornelis Johannes van Houten Discoveries by Ingrid van Houten-Groeneveld Discoveries by Tom Gehrels Discoveries by the Palomar–Leiden survey, 6091 Named minor planets Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 3047 Goethe Astronomical objects discovered in 1960, 19600924