(38245) Marcospontes

Template: Infobox Asteroid / Maintenance / Error 2

( 38245 ) Marco Pontes is an asteroid of the outer main belt, which on 12 August 1999 by the Brazilian astronomers Cristóvão Jacques and the Brazilian astronomer and mathematician Luiz Duczmal on 12-inch Meade LX200 telescope of Observatório Wykrota (IAU code 859) was detected. The observatory is operated by the Centro de Estudos Astronômicos de Minas Gerais ( CEAMIG ) and is located in the Serra de Piedade near Belo Horizonte, State of Minas Gerais. Unconfirmed sightings of the asteroid it had already given on 1 March 1992 (1992 EE31 ) at the La Silla Observatory of the European Southern Observatory in Chile.

The asteroid is a member of the Koronis family, a group of asteroids that is named after (158 ) Koronis. The timeless ( nichtoskulierenden ) orbital elements of ( 38245 ) Marco Pontes are almost identical to those of the larger asteroids ( 7260 ) Metelli and the smaller asteroid ( 78372 ) 2002 PJ125, ( 83595 ) 2001 SX256, ( 185 272 ) in 2006 UL159, ( 281589 ) 2008 UH145 and (355156) 2006 VD66. The size comparison is solely based on the absolute brightness, since the diameters of the heavenly bodies are not known.

( 38245 ) Marco Pontes was named after Brazil's first and only astronaut Marcos Pontes, 10 November 2003.