3070 Aitken
| Discovery [1] | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by |
Indiana University IU Asteroid Program |
| Discovery site | Goethe Link Obs. |
| Discovery date | 4 April 1949 |
| Designations | |
| MPC designation | 3070 Aitken |
Named after |
Robert G. Aitken (astronomer)[2] |
|
1949 GK · 1942 GQ A907 HA | |
| main-belt · Flora [3] | |
| Orbital characteristics [1] | |
| Epoch 31 July 2016 (JD 2457600.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 0 | |
| Observation arc | 74 yr (27,028 days) |
| Aphelion | 2.7612 AU |
| Perihelion | 1.8502 AU |
| 2.3057 AU | |
| Eccentricity | 0.1976 |
| 3.5 yr (1,279 days) | |
| 64.4929° | |
| 0° 16m 53.4s / day | |
| Inclination | 2.3455° |
| 170.4389° | |
| 52.5487° | |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Dimensions | 3.85 km (calculated)[3] |
| 6.3965±0.0026 h[4] | |
| 0.24 (assumed)[3] | |
| S [3] | |
|
13.7[1] 14.27±0.28[5] 13.789±0.005 (R)[4] 14.24[3] | |
|
| |
3070 Aitken, provisional designation 1949 GK, is a stony Flora asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, about 4 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 4 April 1949, by the U.S. Indiana Asteroid Program of Indiana University at Goethe Link Observatory in Brooklyn.[6]
The S-type asteroid is a member of the Flora family, one of the largest groups of stony asteroids in the main-belt. It orbits the Sun at a distance of 1.9–2.8 AU once every 3 years and 6 months (1,279 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.20 and an inclination of 2° with respect to the plane of the ecliptic.[1] The used first precovery was taken at Turku Observatory in 1942, extending the asteroid's observation arc by 7 years prior to its discovery. However, the asteroid was already imaged in 1907, at Taunton in Massachusetts (803).[6]
A rotational light-curve of this asteroid was obtained from photometric observations made at the U.S. Palomar Transient Factory in November 2010. The light-curve gave a rotation period of 6.3965±0.0026 hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.38 in magnitude (U=2).[4] The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo for stony asteroids of 0.20 and calculates a diameter of 3.9 kilometers.[3]
The minor planet was named for of American astronomer Robert Grant Aitken (1864–1951), who was the 4th director of the Lick Observatory from 1930 to 1935, successor of director William Campbell, after whom the minor planet 2751 Campbell was named. Aitken became a well known expert on double stars and, in 1932, published the New General Catalogue of Double Stars Within 120° of the North Pole,[7] He is also known for his book The Binary Stars that was first published in 1918.[8] He is also honored by the lunar crater Aitken.[2] Naming citation was published on 21 April 1989 (M.P.C. 14481).[9]
References
- 1 2 3 4 "JPL Small-Body Database Browser: 3070 Aitken (1949 GK)" (2016-04-13 last obs.). Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved May 2016.
- 1 2 Schmadel, Lutz D. (2007). Dictionary of Minor Planet Names – (3070) Aitken. Springer Berlin Heidelberg. p. 253. ISBN 978-3-540-00238-3. Retrieved May 2016.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 "LCDB Data for (3070) Aitken". Asteroid Lightcurve Database (LCDB). Retrieved May 2016.
- 1 2 3 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 May 2016.
- ↑ Veres, Peter; Jedicke, Robert; Fitzsimmons, Alan; Denneau, Larry; Granvik, Mikael; Bolin, Bryce; et al. (November 2015). "Absolute magnitudes and slope parameters for 250,000 asteroids observed by Pan-STARRS PS1 - Preliminary results". Icarus 261: 34–47. arXiv:1506.00762. Bibcode:2015Icar..261...34V. doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2015.08.007. Retrieved May 2016.
- 1 2 "3070 Aitken (1949 GK)". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved May 2016.
- ↑ Daintith, John (1981). "Aitken, Robert Grant". Biographical Encyclopedia of Scientists 1. New York: Facts On File, Inc. p. 9. ISBN 0-87196-396-5.
- ↑ The Binary Stars. Dover (digital version). 1964. Retrieved May 2016.
- ↑ "MPC/MPO/MPS Archive". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved May 2016.
External links
- Asteroid Lightcurve Database (LCDB), query form (info)
- Dictionary of Minor Planet Names, Google books
- Asteroids and comets rotation curves, CdR – Observatoire de Genève, Raoul Behrend
- Discovery Circumstances: Numbered Minor Planets (1)-(5000) – Minor Planet Center
- 3070 Aitken at the JPL Small-Body Database
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