3350 Scobee, provisional designation 1980 PJ, is a stony Florian asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 3 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 8 August 1980 by American astronomer Edward Bowell at Lowell's Anderson Mesa Station near Flagstaff, Arizona.[3] It was named for Dick Scobee, commander of the ill-fated Challenger crew.
Scobee is a member of the Flora family, one of the largest families of stony asteroids. It orbits the Sun in the inner main-belt at a distance of 1.8–2.8 AU once every 3 years and 6 months (1,283 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.21 and an inclination of 3° with respect to the ecliptic.[1] A first precovery was taken at Palomar Observatory in 1952, extending the body's observation arc by 28 years prior to its official discovery observation at Anderson Mesa.[3]
According to preliminary results of the space-based survey carried out by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent NEOWISE mission, Scobee measured 7.401 kilometers in diameter and its surface had a dark, carbonaceous albedo of 0.059.[6][7] The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link, however, assumed an albedo of 0.24 – derived from 8 Flora, the largest member and namesake of the family – and calculated a diameter of 3.26 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 14.6.[4] More recent NEOWISE-observations, taken during the second year since the spacecraft was reactivated in late 2013, are in agreement, giving a diameter of 3.11 kilometers and an albedo of 0.22.[5]
Photometric observations gave a respective brightness variation of 0.16 and 0.17 magnitude, which indicates that the body has a rather spheroidal shape. As of 2017, however, no rotational lightcurve of Scobee has been obtained and its rotation period remains unknown.[4][5][9]
