6708 Bobbievaile

Orbit and classification

Bobbievaile is a stony, non-family asteroid from the main belt's background population. It orbits the Sun in the inner main-belt at a distance of 2.0–2.9 AU once every 3 years and 10 months (1,397 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.18 and an inclination of 12° with respect to the ecliptic.

It was first observed as ** at El Leoncito in 1979, extending the body's observation arc by 10 years prior to its official discovery observation at Siding Spring.

Binary asteroid

On 7 May 2009, it was announced that Bobbievaile was determined to be a binary asteroid based on a series of lightcurve observations. Bobbievaile (the primary) is estimated to have a diameter of , and its minor-planet moon (the secondary) to have a diameter of approximately 4.57 km. The primary is probably spherical.

Naming

This minor planet was named in memory of Australian astrophysicist Roberta Anne "Bobbie" Vaile (1959–1996), lecturer at Western Sydney University. She was a SETI enthusiast and participated in both the establishment of the SETI Australia Centre and the conduction of Project Phoenix. The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 22 April 1997 (M.P.C. 29671).

References

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References

1. "(6708) Bobbievaile".