1877 Marsden

It was discovered during the Palomar–Leiden Trojan survey in 1971, and named after British astronomer Brian Marsden.

Marsden was discovered on 24 March 1971, by Dutch astronomer couple Ingrid and Cornelis van Houten at Leiden, on photographic plates taken by Dutch–American astronomer Tom Gehrels at Palomar Observatory, California.

The discovery was made in a survey of faint Trojans (in spite of not having received a typical T-1 designation). The trio of Dutch and Dutch–American astronomers collaborated on the productive Palomar–Leiden survey in the 1960s, using the same procedure as for this smaller Trojan campaign: Gehrels used Palomar's Samuel Oschin telescope (also known as the 48-inch Schmidt Telescope), and shipped the photographic plates to Cornelis and Ingrid van Houten at Leiden Observatory where blinking and astrometry was carried out.

Marsden is a member of the Hilda family. It orbits the Sun in the outermost main-belt at a distance of 3.1–4.8 AU once every 7 years and 10 months (2,861 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.21 and an inclination of 18° with respect to the ecliptic.

This trojan asteroid has been characterized as a dark C-type and D-type asteroid.

Rotation period

During a photometric survey of Hilda asteroids in the late 1990s, an obtained light curve for Marsden gave a rotation period of 14.4 hours with a brightness variation of 0.22 in magnitude (U=2).

Diameter and albedo

According to the surveys carried out by the Japanese Akari satellite and NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent NEOWISE mission, Marsden measures 35.27 and 35.643 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo of 0.082 and 0.07, respectively. The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo for carbonaceous asteroids of 0.057 and derives a diameter of 34.01 kilometers with an absolute magnitude of 11.07.

This minor planet was named in honor of British astronomer Brian Marsden (1937–2010), director of the Minor Planet Center (MPC) at the Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, in recognition of his numerous contributions in the field of orbit calculations for comets and minor planets. The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 1 June 1975 (M.P.C. 3826).