May (minor planet designation: 348 May) is a large Main belt asteroid. It was discovered by Auguste Charlois on 28 November 1892 in Nice, and was named for the German author Karl May. This asteroid is orbiting the Sun at a distance of with a period of and an eccentricity (ovalness) of 0.067. The orbital plane is inclined at an angle of 9.7° to the plane of the ecliptic. During its orbit, this asteroid has made close approaches to the dwarf planet Ceres. For example, in September 1984 the two were separated by . Analysis of the asteroid light curve generated from photometric data collected during 2007 provided a rotation period of with a brightness variation of in magnitude. This is consistent with an estimate from a 2006 study. It is classified as a G-type asteroid and spans a diameter of approximately 83 km. References External links 000348 Discoveries by Auguste Charlois Named minor planets 000348 18921128