10979 Fristephenson
| Discovery | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | C. J. van Houten I. van Houten-G. T. Gehrels |
| Discovery site | Palomar Obs. |
| Discovery date | 29 September 1973 |
| Designations | |
| (10979) Fristephenson | |
Named after | Francis Richard Stephenson (British historian of astronomy) |
| 4171 T-2 · 4386 T-3 | |
| main-belt · (inner) Sulamitis | |
| Orbital characteristics | |
| Epoch 23 March 2018 (JD 2458200.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 0 | |
| Observation arc | 44.52 yr (16,260 d) |
| Aphelion | 2.6597 AU |
| Perihelion | 2.2555 AU |
| 2.4576 AU | |
| Eccentricity | 0.0822 |
| 3.85 yr (1,407 d) | |
| 292.96° | |
| 0° 15m 20.88s / day | |
| Inclination | 5.5613° |
| 138.32° | |
| 122.19° | |
| Physical characteristics | |
| 5.327±0.069 km | |
| 0.057±0.009 | |
| C (SDSS-MOC) | |
| 15.1 | |
10979 Fristephenson (provisional designation 4171 T-2) is a carbonaceous Sulamitis asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 5 kilometers (3.1 miles) in diameter. It was discovered during the Palomar–Leiden Trojan survey on 29 September 1973, by Ingrid and Cornelis van Houten at Leiden, and Tom Gehrels at Palomar Observatory in California, United States. The dark C-type asteroid was named for British historian of astronomy Francis Richard Stephenson.