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Minor planet (22338) Janemojo

Presented on May 17, 2003, at the monthly general meeting of the Eastbay Astronomical Society

Asteroid name recipients at the May 17 EAS meeting, left to right: Dave Rodriguez, (Minor planet Astrowizard), Mojo, Jane, and Don Stone.

Minor Planet Circulars 2003 May 2

 

(22338) Janemojo = 1992 LE

 

Discovered 1992 June 3
by Carolyn S. Shoemaker and David H. Levy at Palomar.

Named in honor of Jane Houston Jones (b.1952) and Morris Jones (b.1957),
who are, first and foremost, sidewalk astronomers in San Francisco, helping
the general public enjoy the beauties of the heavens. They are co-editors of
the San Jose Astronomy Club's newsletter, write articles for Sky and
Telescope magazine, and “run” the AANC's website. Citation by
Don Stone.

Click for 164k graphic of the letter from Carolyn Shoemaker
A text reproduction follows.

United States Department of the Interior

U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

Branch of Astrogeology
2255 Gemini Drive
Flagstaff, Arizona 86001

 

May 9, 2003

Dear Jane and Morris,

     When Don Stone brought your names to my attention and David Levy told me of your contributions to astronomy, it became obvious that you should have an asteroid named for you.

     (22338) Janemojo (an unforgettable sort of name) was first found in June of 1992, as indicated by its temporary designation of 1992 LE. The LE refers to the month and the time of the month and the order in which it was found. For us using an 18-inch telescope and film, it was a rather big and bright asteroid as shown by the magnitude of 13.6. It is indeed about 5 km in diameter — when you consider that impact scientists hold anything more than 1 km in size to be capable of inflicting huge damage to our earth if the two collided, then you know that a 5 km body is not insignificant. However, although Janemojo has a rather high inclination, it is on a well-behaved orbit between Mars and Jupiter and should continue on its path through the heavens long after we're gone.

     I hope you will have the opportunity to observe this asteroid; I doubt that you'll see it in your sidewalk observations, but perhaps you can use a larger telescope to find it when it comes into opposition. As a large rock or mountain in the sky, (22338) is a piece of real estate requiring no tax payments and no maintenance, but it would surely be fun to visit. Please enjoy knowing that it is there with your names on it.

  With admiration and my best regards,

/s/Carolyn
Carolyn S. Shoemaker

Ephemeris and orbit request form from the Minor Planet Center of the IAU

Click for a motion trail plot for 22338 Janemojo for the next twelve months, by Skytools

Also a Z view and an oblique view of its orbit, made by Carter Roberts using Voyager III