2478 Tokai is a main-belt

Asteroid belt

The asteroid belt is the region of the Solar System located roughly between the orbits of the planets Mars and Jupiter. It is occupied by numerous irregularly shaped bodies called asteroids or minor planets...

 asteroid

Asteroid

Asteroids are a class of small Solar System bodies in orbit around the Sun. They have also been called planetoids, especially the larger ones...

 discovered on May 4, 1981 by T. Furuta at Tōkai, Aichi

Tokai, Aichi

is a city located in Aichi, Japan.As of 2008, the city has an estimated population of 106,713 and the density of 2,460 persons per km². The total area is 43.36 km².The city was founded on April 1, 1969....

.

Since the albedo of this asteroid is unknown, the size can only be estimated as between about 7 km - 15 km, based on the absolute magnitude (H) of 12.8.

Satellite

Photometric observations in 2007 revealed a ~7+km satellite (lower limit diameter ratio of 0.72) with an orbital period of 25.88 hours.

External links

• Orbital simulation from JPL (Java) / Ephemeris