8776 Campestris

8776 Campestris, provisional designation 2287 T-3, is a stony background asteroid from the central region of the asteroid belt, approximately 10 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 16 October 1977, by Dutch astronomer couple Ingrid and Cornelis van Houten at Leiden Observatory, and Dutch–American astronomer Tom Gehrels at the Palomar Observatory in California, United States.^[8] The asteroid was named for the tawny pipit (Anthus campestris), a shorebird.^[3]

8776 Campestris

Discovery[1]
Discovered by	C. J. van Houten I. van Houten T. Gehrels
Discovery site	Palomar Obs.
Discovery date	16 October 1977
Designations
MPC designation	(8776) Campestris
Pronunciation	/kæmˈpɛstrɪs/[2]
Named after	Anthus campestris (the tawny pipit)[3]
Alternative designations	2287 T-3 · 1990 SO10
Minor planet category	main-belt · (middle)[4] background
Orbital characteristics[1]
Epoch 4 September 2017 (JD 2458000.5)
Uncertainty parameter 0
Observation arc	38.98 yr (14,236 days)
Aphelion	3.2415 AU
Perihelion	2.1392 AU
Semi-major axis	2.6904 AU
Eccentricity	0.2049
Orbital period (sidereal)	4.41 yr (1,612 days)
Mean anomaly	94.226°
Inclination	3.4400°
Longitude of ascending node	300.27°
Argument of perihelion	338.93°
Physical characteristics
Dimensions	7.65 km (calculated)[4] 10.543±0.106 km[5][6]
Synodic rotation period	9.2982±0.0118 h[4] 9.2990±0.0064 h[7]
Geometric albedo	0.058±0.008[5][6] 0.10 (assumed)[4]
Spectral type	S[4]
Absolute magnitude (H)	13.7[1][4] · 13.6[5] · 14.122±0.002 (S)[7] · 13.734±0.002 (R)[7]

Orbit and classification

Campestris is a non-family asteroid from the main belt's background population. It orbits the Sun in the central main-belt at a distance of 2.1–3.2 AU once every 4 years and 5 months (1,612 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.20 and an inclination of 3° with respect to the ecliptic.^[1]

Survey designation

The survey designation "T-3" stands for the third Palomar–Leiden Trojan survey, named after the fruitful collaboration of the Palomar and Leiden Observatory in the 1960s and 1970s. Gehrels used Palomar's Samuel Oschin telescope (also known as the 48-inch Schmidt Telescope), and shipped the photographic plates to Cornelis and Ingrid van Houten-Groeneveld at Leiden Observatory where astrometry was carried out. The trio of astronomers are credited with the discovery of several thousand minor planets.^[9]

Naming

This minor planet is named for the passerine bird Anthus campestris, or tawny pipit. It is on the Dutch Red List of birds endangered in the Netherlands.^[3] It is also on the European Red List of Birds as of 2015.^[10] The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 2 February 1999 (M.P.C. 33793).^[11]

Physical characteristics

Rotation period

In 2012, two rotational lightcurves of Campestris were obtained from photometric observations taken at the Palomar Transient Factory in California. Lightcurve analysis gave a rotation period of 9.2982 and 9.2990 hours with a brightness variation of 0.35 and 0.38 magnitude, respectively (U=2/2).^[7]

Diameter and albedo

According to the survey carried out by the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, Campestris measures 10.5 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo of 0.058.^[5] The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a higher albedo of 0.10 and calculates a diameter of 7.5 kilometers.^[4]