9708 Gouka

9708 Gouka

Discovery
Discovered by	C. J. van Houten, I. van Houten-Groeneveld, and T. Gehrels
Discovery site	Palomar Observatory
Discovery date	October 16, 1977
Designations
MPC designation	9708 Gouka
Alternative names	MPO 309227, 1990 VF11, 1990 WX8, 1996 JH15, 4140 T-3, T/4140 T-3
Minor planet category	Main belt
Orbital characteristics
Epoch Dec 9, 2014 (JD 2457000.5)
Uncertainty parameter 0
Observation arc	13491 d 36.94 yr
Aphelion	3.05273475 AU
Perihelion	2.1590085 AU
Semi-major axis	2.60587163 AU
Eccentricity	0.17148317
Orbital period	1536.48369 d 4.21 yr
Average orbital speed	18.3144586 km/s
Mean anomaly	184.74401°
Inclination	5.890221°
Longitude of ascending node	116.05340°
Argument of perihelion	36.24503°
Earth MOID	1.17383 AU
Physical characteristics
Dimensions	3–7 km
Absolute magnitude (H)	14.6

9708 Gouka (also known as 4140 T-3, 1990 VF₁₁, 1990 WX₈, and 1996 JH₁₅) is an asteroid that is a main belt asteroid.

Discovery and naming

This asteroid was originally discovered in observations made on October 16, 1977 by Cornelis Johannes van Houten and Ingrid van Houten-Groeneveld on photographic plates taken by Tom Gehrels with the Samuel Oschin telescope at the Palomar Observatory. At that time, the asteroid was given the provisional designation "4140 T-3". The asteroid was renamed Gouka after Adriaan Jacobus Gouka (1879-1963), Dutch co-founder in 1901 of the NVWS, the Dutch Astronomical and Meteorological Society. The name was suggested by H. van Woerden. The asteroid was also observed in 1996 and twice in 1990, resulting in multiple designations before it was determined that these observations were of the same object.

Orbit

This asteroid has a well-established orbit calculated from almost 37 years of observations. Based on the Earth MOID, the closest that this asteroid can possibly come to Earth is over 1 AU, the distance from the Earth to the Sun. The Jupiter Tisserand invariant, used to distinguish different kinds of orbits, is 3.384.