Minor planet 22338 Janemojo = 1992 LE

On the first day of January 1801, Giuseppe Piazzi discovered an object which he first thought was a new comet. But after its orbit was better determined it was clear that it was not a comet but more like a small planet. Piazzi named it Ceres, after the Sicilian goddess of grain. Three other small bodies were discovered in the next few years (Pallas, Vesta, and Juno). By the end of the 19th century there were several hundred.

Several hundred thousand asteroids have been discovered and given provisional designations so far. Thousands more are discovered each year. There are undoubtedly hundreds of thousands more that are too small to be seen from the Earth. One of these little mountains in the sky, 5km 1992 LE, was discovered by Carolyn Shoemaker and David Levy during a long successful observing night on June 3, 1992. They began at 20:00 and continued until 04:30 the next morning, taking 40 pictures using the 18-inch schmidt camera atop Mt. Palomar in California. After several required observations to recapture the object and determine its orbit, minor planets are given a number and sometimes discoverers name them. Minor planet 1992 LE has been designated 22338 Janemojo, for SJAA members Jane and Morris "Mojo" Jones.

Additional information, orbital plots and a motion trail, plus pictures and the Minor Planet Circular are displayed on this website: http://www.whiteoaks.com/Janemojo.html. Asteroid data courtesy http://www.nineplanets.org