1036 Ganymed

1036 Ganymed is a stony asteroid that orbits the Sun in a very stretched path, called an eccentric orbit. It was discovered by German astronomer Walter Baade at the Bergedorf Observatory in Hamburg on October 23, 1924. The asteroid is named after Ganymede from Greek mythology, a figure known in ancient stories.

Ganymed is one of the largest objects that comes close to Earth’s path around the Sun, but it never crosses Earth’s orbit directly. It measures about 35 kilometers or 22 miles in diameter, making it the largest of these near-Earth objects. This asteroid takes about 10.3 hours to spin once on its axis.

Orbit and classification

Ganymed is an Amor asteroid, a type of near-Earth asteroid that comes close to Earth's path but does not cross it. It travels around the Sun at distances ranging from 1.2 to 4.1 AU roughly every 4 years and 4 months. This path is stretched out and tilted, making its orbit quite unusual.

Because of its stretched path, Ganymed will come very close to the planet Mars in the year 2176, passing by at a very close distance.

Name

The minor planet Ganymed was named after Ganymede from Greek mythology, using the German spelling "Ganymed". Ganymede was a Trojan prince taken by Zeus to serve as a cup-bearer to the Greek gods. The same name was also used for Jupiter's third moon, "Ganymede", which was discovered in 1610 by the Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei.

Physical characteristics

Ganymed has been studied a lot since it was found in 1924. It is a stony asteroid, which means it is made of iron and minerals containing magnesium and silicon. Scientists think its surface is covered with a special kind of mineral called orthopyroxene.

Measurements from space telescopes show that Ganymed is about 32 to 38 kilometers wide. It spins around once every about 10.3 hours. Observations from telescopes and radar pictures show that Ganymed looks almost round and that its surface looks fairly smooth and similar all over.

absolute magnitude

S-type asteroid

Tholen

SMASS

S3OS2

magnesium

silicates

orthopyroxenes

IRAS

Akari satellite

NEOWISE

Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer

WISE

albedo

occultation

lightcurves

photometric

Frederick Pilcher

G50

rotation period

U=3-/3/3

spin axes

ecliptic coordinates

Arecibo radio telescope