(17408) McAdams Inner Main-belt Asteroid
Discovered on 19 October 1987 by Shoemaker, C. S., Shoemaker, E. M. at Palomar.
Jim V. McAdams (b. 1961) optimizes spacecraft trajectories at the Applied Physics Laboratory of Johns Hopkins University. He designed trajectories for the NEAR Shoemaker mission from the formative phase of NASA's Discovery Program in 1989 to landing on (433) Eros in 2001.Naming citation (20010509/MPCPages.arc), IAU / Minor Planet Center, via NASA/JPL
Where McAdams is today
Seen from above the solar system on 2026-10-14: McAdams is 1.68 au from the Sun and 1.27 au from Earth. Computed from JPL's orbital elements.
Facts
| Number | 17408 |
| Provisional designation | 1987 UZ1 |
| Orbit class | Inner Main-belt Asteroid |
| Diameter | 3.31 km (#14,447 largest of 17,440 named asteroids with a measured size) |
| Albedo | 0.328 |
| Rotation period | 33.5 hours |
| Absolute magnitude (H) | 14.43 |
| Orbital period | 2.58 years |
| Semi-major axis | 1.88 au |
| Perihelion – aphelion | 1.68 – 2.08 au |
| Eccentricity | 0.107 |
| Inclination | 25.7° |
| Closest distance between its orbit and Earth's (MOID) | 0.713 au |
Data: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database and the IAU Minor Planet Center.
Also named after someone called Jim
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