![]() Shape model of TARDIS from its lightcurve | |
Discovery [1] | |
---|---|
Discovered by | B. A. Skiff |
Discovery site | Anderson Mesa Stn. |
Discovery date | 3 May 1984 |
Designations | |
(3325) TARDIS | |
Named after | TARDIS (fictional time machine) [2] |
1984 JZ ·1958 VB1 1969 TP3 ·1975 VC8 1975 WF1 | |
main-belt [1] ·(outer) Alauda [3] | |
Orbital characteristics [1] | |
Epoch 4 September 2017 (JD 2458000.5) | |
Uncertainty parameter 0 | |
Observation arc | 58.56 yr (21,390 days) |
Aphelion | 3.2299 AU |
Perihelion | 3.1397 AU |
3.1848 AU | |
Eccentricity | 0.0142 |
5.68 yr (2,076 days) | |
45.895° | |
0° 10m 24.24s / day | |
Inclination | 22.221° |
46.246° | |
86.099° | |
Physical characteristics | |
28.238±0.469 km [4] 29.66±1.2 km(IRAS:9) [5] | |
0.0553±0.005(IRAS:9) [5] 0.067±0.010 [4] | |
11.5 [1] | |
3325 TARDIS (provisional designation: 1984 JZ) is a dark Alauda asteroid from the outer region of the asteroid belt, approximately 29 kilometers (18 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 3 May 1984, by American astronomer Brian Skiff at Lowell's Anderson Mesa Station, Arizona, in the United States. [6] The asteroid was named TARDIS, after the fictional time machine and spacecraft from the science fiction television series Doctor Who . [2]
TARDIS is a member of the Alauda family ( 902 ), [3] a large family of typically bright carbonaceous asteroids and named after its parent body, 702 Alauda. [7] : 23
It orbits the Sun in the outer main-belt at a distance of 3.1–3.2 AU once every 5 years and 8 months (2,076 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.01 and an inclination of 22° with respect to the ecliptic. [1] In 1958 it was first identified as 1958 VB1 at the Goethe Link Observatory, extending the body's observation arc by 26 years prior to its official discovery at Anderson Mesa. [6]
It is named after the acronym TARDIS (Time And Relative Dimension In Space), the space and time travel vehicle used by the Doctor in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who . The fictional time machine looks like a police telephone box from mid-twentieth century Britain. [2] The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 11 March 1990 ( M.P.C. 16041). [8]
According to the survey carried out by the Infrared Astronomical Satellite IRAS and NASA's NEOWISE mission, TARDIS measures 28.2 and 29.7 kilometers in diameter, and its surface has a low albedo of 0.055 and 0.067, respectively. [4] [5] An albedo between 0.05 and 0.06 is typical for carbonaceous asteroids of the outer main-belt. As of 2016, no rotational lightcurves have been obtained and the asteroid's period and shape still remains unknown.