1778 Alfvén

Carbonaceous Themistian asteroid October 2019 yes 1778 Alfvén #D6D6D6 26 September 1960 C. J. van HoutenI. van Houten-G.Tom Gehrels Palomar Obs. (1778) Alfvén 4506 P-L1936 HK1952 DD 11958 FB1959 NN Hannes Alfvén (physicist) main-beltThemis 31 May 2021 (JD 2459000.5) 0 66.12 yr (24,152 days) (JPL) 113.65 yr (41,511 days) (MPC) 3.5505 AU 2.7420 AU 3.1462 AU 0.1285 5.58 yr (2,038 days) 358.82° 0.1765 ms / day 2.4742° 106.24° 136.41° 20.51 km (calculated)20.623 0.240 km 4.8050 0.0027 h4.82 0.05 h 0.08 (assumed)0.095 0.007 C 11.59 0.15 (R)11.611.725 0.003 (R) 11.812.32 0.54 1778 Alfvén, also designated 4506 P-L, is a carbonaceous Themistian asteroid from the outer region of the asteroid belt, approximately 20 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 26 September 1960, by astronomers Cornelis van Houten, Ingrid van Houten-Groeneveld and Tom Gehrels at the U.S. Palomar Observatory, in California. It was later named after Swedish Nobelist Hannes Alfvén. Orbit and classification The dark C-type asteroid is a member of the Themis family, a dynamical family of outer-belt asteroids with nearly coplanar ecliptical orbits. Alfvén orbits the Sun in the outer main-belt at a distance of 2.7–3.6 AU once every 5 years and 7 months (2,038 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.13 and an inclination of 2° with respect to the ecliptic. A first precovery was taken at Lowell Observatory in 1906, extending the body's observation arc by 54 years prior to its official discovery observation. Physical characteristics Rotation period In February 2013, two rotational lightcurves of Alfvén were obtained from analysis at the Palomar Transient Factory in California. The lightcurves gave a rotation period of 4.82 and 4.8050 hours with a brightness variation of 0.40 and 0.36 magnitude, respectively (U=3-/2). Diameter and albedo According to the survey carried out by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent NEOWISE mission, Alfvén measures 20.62 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo of 0.095, while the Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes an albedo of 0.08 and calculates a diameter of 20.51 kilometers with an absolute magnitude of 11.8. Survey designation The survey 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 Ingrid and Cornelis van Houten at Leiden Observatory where astrometry was carried out. The trio are credited with the discovery of several thousand minor planets. Naming This minor planet was named after Swedish engineer, physicist and Nobel prize winner, Hannes Alfvén (1908–1995). The official 1778 naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 15 June 1974 (M.P.C. 3643). References 30em 2020-10-11 last obs. JPL Small-Body Database Browser: 1778 Alfven (4506 P-L) https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=2001778 Jet Propulsion Laboratory 21 February 2021 Dictionary of Minor Planet Names – (1778) Alfvén Schmadel Lutz D. Springer Berlin Heidelberg 142 2007 978-3-540-00238-3 10.1007/978-3-540-29925-7_1779 (1778) Alfvén 1778 Alfven (4506 P-L) Minor Planet Center https://www.minorplanetcenter.net/db_search/show_object?object_id=1778 21 February 2021 Dictionary of Minor Planet Names – Addendum to Fifth Edition (2006–2008) Appendix – Publication Dates of the MPCs Schmadel Lutz D. Springer Berlin Heidelberg 221 978-3-642-01964-7 10.1007/978-3-642-01965-4 Minor Planet Discoverers Minor Planet Center https://www.minorplanetcenter.net/iau/lists/MPDiscsNum.html 24 April 2016 19 December 2016 1778 19 December 2016 4 A. Mainzer T. Grav J. Masiero E. Hand J. Bauer D. Tholen R. S. McMillan T. Spahr R. M. Cutri E. Wright J. Watkins W. Mo C. Maleszewski November 2011 NEOWISE Studies of Spectrophotometrically Classified Asteroids: Preliminary Results The Astrophysical Journal 741 2 25 2011ApJ...741...90M 10.1088/0004-637X/741/2/90 1109.6407 4 Chan-Kao Chang Wing-Huen Ip Ip Wing-huen Hsing-Wen Lin Yu-Chi Cheng Chow-Choong Ngeow Ting-Chang Yang Adam Waszczak Shrinivas R. Kulkarni David Levitan Branimir Sesar Russ Laher Jason Surace Thomas. A. Prince June 2014 313 New Asteroid Rotation Periods from Palomar Transient Factory Observations http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/bib_query?bibcode=2014ApJ...788...17C The Astrophysical Journal 788 1 21 2014ApJ...788...17C 10.1088/0004-637X/788/1/17 1405.1144 19 December 2016 4 Adam Waszczak Chan-Kao Chang Eran O. Ofek Russ Laher Frank Masci David Levitan Jason Surace Yu-Chi Cheng Wing-Huen Ip Daisuke Kinoshita George Helou Thomas A. Prince Shrinivas Kulkarni September 2015 Asteroid Light Curves from the Palomar Transient Factory Survey: Rotation Periods and Phase Functions from Sparse Photometry http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/bib_query?bibcode=2015AJ....150...75W The Astronomical Journal 150 3 35 2015AJ....150...75W 10.1088/0004-6256/150/3/75 1504.04041 19 December 2016 4 Peter Veres Robert Jedicke Alan Fitzsimmons Larry Denneau Mikael Granvik Bryce Bolin Serge Chastel Richard J. Wainscoat William S. Burgett Kenneth C. Chambers Heather Flewelling Nick Kaiser Eugen A. Magnier Jeff S. Morgan Paul A. Price John L. Tonry Christopher Waters November 2015 Absolute magnitudes and slope parameters for 250,000 asteroids observed by Pan-STARRS PS1 - Preliminary results http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/bib_query?bibcode=2015Icar..261...34V Icarus 261 34–47 2015Icar..261...34V 10.1016/j.icarus.2015.08.007 1506.00762 19 December 2016 4 Joseph R. Masiero A. K. Mainzer T. Grav J. M. Bauer R. M. Cutri J. Dailey P. R. M. Eisenhardt R. S. McMillan T. B. Spahr M. F. Skrutskie D. Tholen R. G. Walker E. L. Wright E. DeBaun D. Elsbury T. IV Gautier S. Gomillion A. Wilkins November 2011 Main Belt Asteroids with WISE/NEOWISE. I. Preliminary Albedos and Diameters http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/bib_query?bibcode=2011ApJ...741...68M The Astrophysical Journal 741 2 20 2011ApJ...741...68M 10.1088/0004-637X/741/2/68 1109.4096 20 December 2016 External links Asteroid Lightcurve Database (LCDB), query form (info https://web.archive.org/web/20171216050541/http://www.minorplanet.info/lightcurvedatabase.html 16 December 2017 ) Dictionary of Minor Planet Names, Google books Asteroids and comets rotation curves, CdR https://web.archive.org/web/20160729213840/http://obswww.unige.ch/~behrend/page_cou.html 29 July 2016 – Observatoire de Genève, Raoul Behrend Discovery Circumstances: Numbered Minor Planets (1)-(5000) – Minor Planet Center 1778 1777 Gehrels 1778 1779 Paraná 001778 Category:Discoveries by Ingrid van Houten-Groeneveld Category:Discoveries by Cornelis Johannes van Houten Category:Discoveries by Tom Gehrels 4506 Category:Named minor planets 19600926