721 Tabora
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. 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 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.
| Discovery | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | Franz Kaiser |
| Discovery site | Heidelberg |
| Discovery date | 18 October 1911 |
| Designations | |
MPC designation | (721) Tabora |
Alternative designations | 1911 MZ |
| Orbital characteristics | |
| Epoch 31 July 2016 (JD 2457600.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 0 | |
| Observation arc | 104.47 years (38,159 days) |
| Aphelion | 3.9621 AU (592.72 Gm) |
| Perihelion | 3.1388 AU (469.56 Gm) |
Semi-major axis | 3.5504 AU (531.13 Gm) |
| Eccentricity | 0.11595 |
Orbital period (sidereal) | 6.69 yr (2,443.6 d) |
Mean anomaly | 218.961° |
Mean motion | 0° 8m 50.388s / day |
| Inclination | 8.3229° |
Longitude of ascending node | 38.411° |
| 352.878° | |
| Earth MOID | 2.1434 AU (320.65 Gm) |
| Jupiter MOID | 1.47765 AU (221.053 Gm) |
| TJupiter | 3.089 |
| Physical characteristics | |
Mean radius | 38.035±1.25 km |
Synodic rotation period | 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. This is a low albedo D-type asteroid showing the characteristic featureless, reddish spectrum of that taxonomic class. It spans a girth of approximately 76 km.