(5201) Ferraz-Mello Outer Main-belt Asteroid
Discovered on 1 December 1983 by E. Bowell at Anderson Mesa.
Named in honor of Sylvio Ferraz-Mello (b. 1936), dynamicist at the University of São Paulo, well known for a number of contributions to solar-system dynamics. These include a perturbation model valid for very high eccentricities, the discovery of chaotic eccentricity jumps to values larger than 0.9 in the 3:1 resonance with Jupiter, and the explanation of the lack of large long-lived objects in the 2:1 resonance, in contrast to the existence of many objects in the 3:2 resonance (Hildas). In other areas, he has worked on a Fourier transform able to deal with unevenly spaced observations, Hamiltonian perturbation theories for nonlinear resonances, and the study of variable dMe stars. Ferraz-Mello served as president of IAU Commission 7 (Celestial Mechanics) from 1994 to 1997.Naming citation (19990728/MPCPages.arc), IAU / Minor Planet Center, via NASA/JPL
Where Ferraz-Mello is today
Seen from above the solar system on 2026-10-14: Ferraz-Mello is 4.20 au from the Sun and 4.59 au from Earth. Computed from JPL's orbital elements.
Facts
| Number | 5201 |
| Provisional designation | 1983 XF |
| Orbit class | Outer Main-belt Asteroid |
| Absolute magnitude (H) | 14.94 |
| Orbital period | 6.34 years |
| Semi-major axis | 3.43 au |
| Perihelion – aphelion | 1.91 – 4.94 au |
| Eccentricity | 0.442 |
| Inclination | 3.27° |
| Closest distance between its orbit and Earth's (MOID) | 0.930 au |
Data: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database and the IAU Minor Planet Center.