721 Tabora is a minor planet orbiting the Sun. Tabora was named at a conference in Hamburg, Germany in 1913. The name was chosen because the conference was held aboard the passenger cargo liner Tabora of the Deutsche Ost-Afrika Linie.[2] The asteroid is orbiting at a distance of 3.55 AU from the Sun with a period of 6.69 years and an eccentricity (ovalness) of 0.12. The orbital plane for is inclined at an angle of 8.3° to the plane of the ecliptic[1] It is a member of the Cybele group in the outer belt, located close to the 7:4 and 16:9 orbital resonances with Jupiter.[3]

721 Tabora
Discovery
Discovered byFranz Kaiser
Discovery siteHeidelberg
Discovery date18 October 1911
Designations
(721) Tabora
1911 MZ
Orbital characteristics[1]
Epoch 31 July 2016 (JD 2457600.5)
Uncertainty parameter 0
Observation arc104.47 years (38,159 days)
Aphelion3.9621 AU (592.72 Gm)
Perihelion3.1388 AU (469.56 Gm)
3.5504 AU (531.13 Gm)
Eccentricity0.11595
6.69 yr (2,443.6 d)
218.961°
0° 8m 50.388s / day
Inclination8.3229°
38.411°
352.878°
Earth MOID2.1434 AU (320.65 Gm)
Jupiter MOID1.47765 AU (221.053 Gm)
TJupiter3.089
Physical characteristics
38.035±1.25 km
7.982 h (0.3326 d)
0.0604±0.004
9.26

Photometric observations of this asteroid made during 2005 were used to produce a light curve showing a rotation period of 7.982±0.001 h with a brightness variation of 0.28 in magnitude.[4] This is a low albedo D-type asteroid showing the characteristic featureless, reddish spectrum of that taxonomic class.[3] It spans a girth of approximately 76 km.[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b c "721 Tabora (1911 MZ)". JPL Small-Body Database. NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved 5 May 2016.
  2. ^ Schmadel, Lutz D. (2013), Dictionary of Minor Planet Names, Springer Berlin Heidelberg, p. 111, ISBN 9783662028049.
  3. ^ a b Lagerkvist, C. -I.; et al. (March 2005), "A study of Cybele asteroids", Astronomy and Astrophysics, 432 (1): 349–354, Bibcode:2005A&A...432..349L, doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20041152.
  4. ^ Licchelli, Domenico (September 2006), "Lightcurve analysis of asteroids 300 Geraldina, 573 Recha, 629 Bernardina 721 Tabora, 1547 Nele, and 1600 Vyssotsky", Bulletin of the Minor Planets Section of the Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers, 33 (3): 50–51, Bibcode:2006MPBu...33...50L.
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