4197 Morpheus, provisional designation 1982 TA, is a highly eccentric asteroid and near-Earth object of the Apollo group, approximately 3 kilometers in diameter.
It was discovered on 11 October 1982, by American astronomers Eleanor Helin and Eugene Shoemaker at Palomar Observatory in California, United States.
[3] On the SMASS taxonomic scheme, Morpheus is classified as a stony Sq sub-type, which transitions from the common S-type to the rather rare Q-type asteroids.
[5] In 1996, a rotational lightcurve was obtained by Czech astronomer Petr Pravec at the Ondřejov Observatory during the body's close approach to Earth within 0.1 AU.
[citation needed] Seven years later, during the asteroid's next close approach in 2003, Morpheus was observed for five nights by Slovak astronomer Adrián Galád at the Modra Observatory.