(6084) Bascom Main-belt Asteroid
Discovered on 12 February 1985 by Shoemaker, C. S., Shoemaker, E. M. at Palomar.
Named in memory of Florence Bascom (1862-1945), the first woman geologist in the United States. She was an expert in crystallography, mineralogy and petrography and worked in the fields of metamorphism and crystallography in their infancy. Bascom was also an educator who trained a generation of young women as professionals at Bryn Mawr, where she founded the geology department. She was the first woman hired by the U.S. Geological Survey and the first woman elected to the Council of the Geological Society of America. Her pioneering work earned her a position among the country's hundred leading geologists in the early twentieth century.Naming citation (19980411/MPCPages.arc), IAU / Minor Planet Center, via NASA/JPL
Where Bascom is today
Seen from above the solar system on 2026-10-14: Bascom is 1.80 au from the Sun and 1.49 au from Earth. Computed from JPL's orbital elements.
Facts
| Number | 6084 |
| Provisional designation | 1985 CT |
| Orbit class | Main-belt Asteroid |
| Diameter | 6.35 km (#8,443 largest of 17,440 named asteroids with a measured size) |
| Albedo | 0.220 |
| Rotation period | 2.75 hours |
| Absolute magnitude (H) | 12.95 |
| Orbital period | 3.52 years |
| Semi-major axis | 2.31 au |
| Perihelion – aphelion | 1.77 – 2.86 au |
| Eccentricity | 0.236 |
| Inclination | 23.0° |
| Closest distance between its orbit and Earth's (MOID) | 0.908 au |
Data: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database and the IAU Minor Planet Center.
Also named after someone called Florence
All asteroids named after someone called Florence
Also discovered on 12 February 1985
- (3985) Raybatson
- (4031) Mueller
- (4083) Jody
- (4202) Minitti
- (6117) Brevardastro
- (19121) Rathnasree
- (22280) Mandragora