Minor Planet:(3834) Zappafrank

3834 Zappafrank is a main belt asteroid that was discovered by Ladislav Brožek in 1980 at Kleť Observatory. It was named after the late American composer Frank Zappa on July 22, 1994.
(3834) Zappafrank is in a 4.08-year elliptical orbit around the sun ranging in distance from 307.8 million km (at perihelion, closest point to the sun) to 455.6 million km (at aphelion, furthest point from the sun).
The previous perihelion passage occurred on 2013 Jan. 19.1 UT.

The orbit is inclined by 14.1 degrees to the ecliptic plane (the plane of the earth's orbit about the sun).

There is little information on the physical properties of (3834) Zappafrank. Even its diameter is uncertain--a range of 5 to 12 km is probable.

You will need a telescope to see this minor planet as its maximum brightness is some 1/4737 of the brightness of the faintest objects that can be seen with the unaided eye.

The diagram  show the orbit of (3834) Zappafrank in relation to the major planets in the inner solar system.
This view of the inner solar system is seen from the north ecliptic pole. The sun is the yellow star at the center of the image. The blue orbits represent, in increasing distance from the center, the major planets Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars and Jupiter. The position of each major planet at the date indicated at the bottom of the plot is shown by the large circled cross. The orbit of the minor planet is shown in red, with the location of the minor planet (at the date indicated at the bottom of the plot) shown as a white circled cross. From this vantage point the planets revolve around the sun in a counter clockwise direction. The vernal equinox is off to the right. The portion of the minor planet's orbit that is below the plane of the earth's orbit is shaded grey. The perihelion point of the minor planet's orbit is at the end of the white straight line through the sun indicated by "P".

Where is (3834) Zappafrank tonight?
Minor Planet:(3834) Zappafrank  Minor Planet:(3834) Zappafrank Reviewed by frank zappa newspaper on 10:38 Rating: 5

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