1778 Alfvén

1778 Alfvén
Discovery [1]
Discovered by C. J. van Houten
I. van Houten-G.
Tom Gehrels
Discovery site Palomar Obs.
Discovery date 26 September 1960
Designations
MPC designation 1778 Alfvén
Named after
 Hannes Alfvén
(physicist)[2]
4506 P-L · 1936 HK
1952 DD1 · 1958 FB
1959 NN
main-belt · Themis [3]
Orbital characteristics [1]
Epoch 13 January 2016 (JD 2457400.5)
Uncertainty parameter 0
Observation arc 61.19 yr (22351 days)
Aphelion 3.5493 AU (530.97 Gm)
Perihelion 2.7466 AU (410.89 Gm)
3.1480 AU (470.93 Gm)
Eccentricity 0.12749
5.59 yr (2040.1 d)
76.789°
0° 10m 35.256s / day
Inclination 2.4737°
106.25°
135.99°
Earth MOID 1.73349 AU (259.326 Gm)
Jupiter MOID 1.4615 AU (218.64 Gm)
Jupiter Tisserand parameter 3.194
Physical characteristics
Dimensions 20.623±0.240[4]
20.51 km (calculated)[3]
4.82±0.05 h[5]
4.8050±0.0027 h[6]
4.82 h (0.201 d)[1]
0.0951±0.0069[4]
0.08 (assumed)[3]
C [3]
11.8[1]

    1778 Alfvén, also designated 4506 P-L, is a carbonaceous Themistian asteroid from the outer region of the asteroid belt. It was discovered on 26 September 1960, by astronomers Cornelis van Houten, Ingrid van Houten-Groeneveld and Tom Gehrels at Palomar, in San Diego, United States.[7]

    The asteroid is a member of the Themis family and has a calculated diameter of about 21 kilometers.[3] It orbits the Sun at a distance of 2.7–3.5 AU once every 5 years and 7 months (2,040 days). Its orbit shows an eccentricity of 0.13 and is tilted by 2 degrees towards the plane of the ecliptic.[1] It has a rotation period of 4.82 hours, measured in 2013.[5][6] Based on assumptions made by the Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link, the albedo of the C-type asteroid is around 0.08,[3] while the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, finds an albedo of 0.095 and a diameter of 20.6 kilometers.[4]

    The designation P-L stands for Palomar–Leiden, named after Palomar Observatory and Leiden Observatory, which collaborated on the fruitful Palomar–Leiden survey in the 1960s. Gehrels used Palomar's Samuel Oschin telescope (also known as the 48-inch Schmidt Telescope), and shipped the photographic plates to Cornelis Johannes van Houten and Ingrid van Houten-Groeneveld at Leiden Observatory. The trio are credited with several thousand asteroid discoveries.

    The asteroid was named after Swedish engineer, physicist and Nobel prize winner, Hannes Alfvén (1908–1995).[2]

    References

    1. 1 2 3 4 5 "JPL Small-Body Database Browser: 1778 Alfven (4506 P-L)" (2015-10-24 last obs.). Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved 20 April 2016.
    2. 1 2 Schmadel, Lutz D. (2003). Dictionary of Minor Planet Names – (1778) Alfvén. Springer Berlin Heidelberg. p. 142. ISBN 978-3-540-29925-7. Retrieved October 2015.
    3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Warner; et al. (2009). "LCDB Data for (1778) Alfven". Asteroid Lightcurve Database (LCDB). Retrieved November 2015.
    4. 1 2 3 Mainzer, A.; Grav, T.; Masiero, J.; Hand, E.; Bauer, J.; Tholen, D.; et al. (November 2011). "NEOWISE Studies of Spectrophotometrically Classified Asteroids: Preliminary Results". The Astrophysical Journal 741 (2): 25. arXiv:1109.6407. Bibcode:2011ApJ...741...90M. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/741/2/90. Retrieved April 2016.
    5. 1 2 Chang, Chan-Kao; Ip, Wing-Huen; Lin, Hsing-Wen; Cheng, Yu-Chi; Ngeow, Chow-Choong; Yang, Ting-Chang; et al. (June 2014). "313 New Asteroid Rotation Periods from Palomar Transient Factory Observations". The Astrophysical Journal 788 (1): 21. arXiv:1405.1144. Bibcode:2014ApJ...788...17C. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/788/1/17. Retrieved November 2015.
    6. 1 2 Waszczak, Adam; Chang, Chan-Kao; Ofek, Eran O.; Laher, Russ; Masci, Frank; Levitan, David; et al. (September 2015). "Asteroid Light Curves from the Palomar Transient Factory Survey: Rotation Periods and Phase Functions from Sparse Photometry". The Astronomical Journal 150 (3): 35. arXiv:1504.04041. Bibcode:2015AJ....150...75W. doi:10.1088/0004-6256/150/3/75. Retrieved November 2015.
    7. ↑ "1778 Alfven (4506 P-L)". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved November 2015.

    External links


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