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747 Winchester

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747 Winchester

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Also known as (747) Winchester, Winchester

main-belt asteroid

OverviewAI-generated

747 Winchester is a main-belt asteroid that orbits the Sun. It was discovered by Joel Hastings Metcalf on March 7, 1913, at the Winchester site. The object carries the provisional designations 1913 QZ and A913 EK. It is named after Winchester and is classified as both a P-type and C-type asteroid.

Physically, 747 Winchester has a diameter of 171.71 km and an albedo of 0.0503. Its rotation period is 9.4146 hours, and its absolute magnitude is 8.03. The asteroid’s orbit has a semi-major axis of 2.998962054260736 AU, an eccentricity of 0.3396931102148048, and an inclination of 18.22140855116078 degrees. Its periapsis is 1.980235306632726 AU, while its apoapsis is 4.017688801888745 AU. The longitude of the ascending node is 129.0494239349015 degrees. In the sequence of minor planets, it follows 746 Marlu and is followed by 748 Simeïsa.

Synthesized by Vinony from 35 facts across 4 sources: Wikidata, NASA, Jpl Sbdb, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.

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On July 4th, 1997, using its own array of fireworks, a parachute, and a cocoon of airbags, the Mars Pathfinder spacecraft bounced like a giant beach ball at least 15 times before it came to rest on the surface of Mars at 10:07 AM Pacific Daylight Time. After its then novel airbag-assisted landing sequence was completed, Pathfinder transmitted this color mosaic to mission operators on Earth. In the scene from another world, the Mars Sojourner robot rover is visible in the foreground, crouched on top of the unfolded Pathfinder. About the size of a large house cat, the six-wheeled, solar-powered Sojourner became the first successful Martian rover. Surrounding Pathfinder are deflated airbags and the rock-strewn terrain of the Ares Vallis floodplain. In the distance Martian hills appear against a dusty brownish sky. The Pathfinder lander was subsequently renamed the Carl Sagan Memorial Station.

via NASA APOD

Small body data

747 Winchester (A913 EK)

Orbit class
Main-belt Asteroid
Diameter
171.710 km
Albedo
0.050
Rotation period
9.415 h
Absolute magnitude
8.030 H
Earth MOID
1.080 AU

via NASA/JPL Small-Body Database

Key facts

Discovered by
Joel Hastings Metcalf
Discovery site
Winchester, Massachusetts
Discovery date
7 March 1913
Pronunciation
/ ˈ w ɪ n tʃ ɪ s t ər /
Alternative designations
1913 QZ
Adjectives
Winchestrian / w ɪ n ˈ tʃ ɛ s t r i ə n /
Observation arc
103.11 yr (37662 d)
Aphelion
4.0220 AU (601.68 Gm )
Perihelion
1.9802 AU (296.23 Gm)
Semi major axis
3.0011 AU (448.96 Gm)
Orbital period sidereal
5.20 yr (1899.0 d )
Mean anomaly
59.0474 °
Mean motion
0° 11 22.488 / day
Inclination
18.165°
Longitude of ascending node
130.081°
Argument of perihelion
275.511°
Mean radius
85.855 ± 1.55 km , 85.035 ± 3.35 km
Mass
(3.81 ± 2.22) × 10 kg

via Wikipedia infobox

~1 min read

Encyclopedic overview

747 Winchester is an asteroid, a minor planet orbiting the Sun. It was discovered in 1913, and is named after the town in which it was discovered, Winchester, Massachusetts, in the USA.

Photometric observations of this asteroid at the Palmer Divide Observatory in Colorado Springs, Colorado in 2007 gave a light curve with a period of 9.4146 ± 0.0002 hours and a brightness variation of 0.16 ± 0.02 in magnitude. This is reasonably consistent with independent results reported in 1983 (9.40h), 1993 (9.402h), and 2007 (9.334h).

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “747 Winchester” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

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