3066 McFadden

3066 McFadden, provisional designation , is a stony background asteroid from the central regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 15 km in diameter. It was discovered on 1 March 1984, by American astronomer Edward Bowell at the Anderson Mesa Station near Tucson, Arizona. It was named for American planetary scientist Lucy-Ann McFadden. The assumed S-type asteroid has a rotation period of 13.8 hours.

Orbit and classification
McFadden is a non-family asteroid from the main belt's background population. It orbits the Sun in the central asteroid belt at a distance of 2.2–2.9 AU once every 4 years (1,466 days; semi-major axis of 2.53 AU). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.13 and an inclination of 16° with respect to the ecliptic.

The asteroid was first observed as  at the Simeis Observatory in June 1933. The body's observation arc begins as  at Uccle Observatory in March 1936, or 48 years prior to its official discovery observation at Anderson Mesa.

Naming
This minor planet was named after Lucy-Ann McFadden (born 1952), a planetary scientist at the University of Maryland at the time of naming. Her research included the similarities between the spectra of meteorites and near-Earth objects. The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 14 April 1987 (M.P.C. 11748).

Physical characteristics
McFadden is an assumed, stony S-type asteroid.

Rotation period
In June 2005, a rotational lightcurve of McFadden was obtained from photometric observations by American astronomer Brian Warner at his Palmer Divide Observatory in Colorado. Lightcurve analysis gave a rotation period of 13.798 hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.13 magnitude (U=3).

Diameter and albedo
According to the surveys carried out by the Japanese Akari satellite and the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, McFadden measures between 13.526 and 15.63 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo between 0.240 and 0.363.

The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link adopts Petr Pravec's revised WISE data with an albedo of 0.2541 and a diameter of 14.90 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 11.24.