4608 Wodehouse

4608 Wodehouse, provisional designation, is a background asteroid and suspected trojan of Ceres from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 8 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 19 January 1988, by Belgian astronomer Henri Debehogne at ESO's La Silla Observatory in northern Chile. The asteroid was named after English writer P. G. Wodehouse.

Orbit and classification
Wodehouse is a non-family asteroid from the main belt's background population. It orbits the Sun in the inner main-belt at a distance of 1.8–2.9 AU once every 3 years and 8 months (1,326 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.22 and an inclination of 7° with respect to the ecliptic. The body's observation arc begins with a precovery taken at Palomar Observatory in January 1952, or 36 years prior to its official discovery observation at La Silla.

Trojan of Ceres
Long-term numerical integrations suggest, that Wodehouse is a trojan of Ceres, staying a 1:1 orbital resonance with the only dwarf planet of the asteroid belt. Other suspected co-orbitals are the asteroids 855 Newcombia, 1372 Haremari and 8877 Rentaro.

Physical characteristics
Wodehouse is classified as a rare L-type asteroid by Pan-STARRS photometric survey. It has also been characterized as a common, carbonaceous C-type asteroid by SDSS-MFB (Masi Foglia Bus).

Rotation period
In December 2005, two rotational lightcurves of Wodehouse was obtained from photometric observations by Donald Pray and Petr Pravec in collaboration with several other observers. Lightcurve analysis gave a rotation period of 13.944 and 13.95 hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.08 and 0.10 magnitude, respectively (U=3/2). A low brightness variation typically indicates, that the body has a spherical rather than elongated shape.

Diameter and albedo
According to the survey carried out by the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, Wodehouse measures between 7.629 and 7.912 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo between 0.1958 and 0.210.

The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo for stony asteroids of 0.20 and calculates a diameter of 8.18 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 12.8.

Naming
This minor planet was named after English writer and humorist P. G. Wodehouse (Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse; 1881–1975). He created several fictional characters who became familiar to the public over the years, including the jolly gentleman of leisure Bertie Wooster and his sagacious valet, Jeeves. The body's name was suggested by Belgian astronomer Jean Meeus.

The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 13 April 2006 (M.P.C. 56611).