(3352) McAuliffe

(3352) McAuliffe is an asteroid that is part of the Amor asteroids and was discovered on February 6, 1981 by Norman G. Thomas from the Anderson Mesa Station in Flagstaff, United States.

Designation and name

McAuliffe was initially designated as 1981 CW. Later, in 1986, it was named in honor of the American high school teacher Christa McAuliffe (1948-1986), who died in the Challenger accident.

Orbital characteristics

McAuliffe orbits at an average distance from the Sun of 1,879 AU, being able to move as far as 2,572 AU and as close as 1,185 AU. The orbital inclination of it is 4.773 degrees and the eccentricity 0.3692. It takes 940.5 days to complete an orbit around the Sun.

McAuliffe is a near-Earth asteroid.

Physical characteristics

McAuliffe's absolute magnitude is 15.8 and its rotation period is 2.206 hours. It is assigned to spectral type A of the SMASSII classification.