13963 Euphrates

Main-belt asteroid October 2019 yes 13963 Euphrates #D6D6D6 3 August 1991 E. W. Elst La Silla Obs. (13963) Euphrates j uː ˈ f r eɪ t iː z 1991 PT 41997 TO 10 Euphrates(river in Mesopotamia) main-belt(outer)Griqua 4 September 2017 (JD 2458000.5) 0 45.98 yr (16,793 days) 4.1853 AU 2.4762 AU 3.3307 AU 0.2566 6.08 yr (2,220 days) 84.506° 0.1621 ms / day 0.9360° 227.18° 129.72° 3.1090 9 1 km (est. at 0.06) 13.9 13963 Euphrates (j uː ˈ f r eɪ t iː z), provisional designation 1991 PT 4, is a resonant Griqua asteroid from the outer region of the asteroid belt, approximately 9 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 3 August 1991, by Belgian astronomer Eric Elst at ESO's La Silla Observatory site in Chile. The asteroid was named after the Euphrates River in the Middle East. Orbit and classification Euphrates is one of very few bodies located in the 2:1 mean motion resonance with the gas giant Jupiter and belongs to the "marginally unstable" Griqua group. It orbits the Sun in the outer main-belt at a distance of 2.5–4.2 AU once every 6 years and 1 month (2,220 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.26 and an inclination of 1° with respect to the ecliptic. A first precovery was taken at Palomar Observatory in 1971, extending the asteroid's observation arc by 20 years prior to its official discovery observation. Physical characteristics Based on an absolute magnitude of 13.9, it measures between 4 and 10 kilometers in diameter, assuming an albedo in the range of 0.05 to 0.25. Since asteroids in the outer main-belt are mostly of a carbonaceous rather than of a silicaceous composition, with low albedos, typically around 0.06, its diameter is likely to be between 8 and 10 kilometers. As of 2017, Euphrates effective size, its composition and albedo, as well as its rotation period and shape remain unknown. Naming This minor planet was named after the Euphrates river, that flows through northern Syria and Iraq. It is one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. The Tigris–Euphrates river system, a major river system, is formed when the two rivers combine at Al Qurnah. The minor planet 13096 Tigris is named after the other river of this system. The approved naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 6 August 2003 (M.P.C. 49280). References 30em 2017-03-17 last obs. JPL Small-Body Database Browser: 13963 Euphrates (1991 PT4) https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=2013963 Jet Propulsion Laboratory 5 July 2017 Dictionary of Minor Planet Names – (13963) Euphrates, Addendum to Fifth Edition: 2003–2005 Schmadel Lutz D. Springer Berlin Heidelberg 82 2006 978-3-540-34360-8 10.1007/978-3-540-34361-5_818 (13963) Euphrates [3.32, 0.26, 0.9] 13963 Euphrates (1991 PT4) Minor Planet Center https://www.minorplanetcenter.net/db_search/show_object?object_id=13963 7 April 2016 MPC/MPO/MPS Archive Minor Planet Center https://www.minorplanetcenter.net/iau/ECS/MPCArchive/MPCArchive_TBL.html 19 May 2016 F. Roig D. Nesvorný S. Ferraz-Mello September 2002 Asteroids in the 2 : 1 resonance with Jupiter: dynamics and size distribution Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 335 2 417–431 2002MNRAS.335..417R 10.1046/j.1365-8711.2002.05635.x free Absolute Magnitude (H) NASA/JPL http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/glossary/h.html https://web.archive.org/web/20010302182040/http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/glossary/h.html dead 2 March 2001 7 April 2016 13963 5 July 2017 External links (13963) Euphrates at AstDyS, University of Pisa 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 – Observatoire de Genève, Raoul Behrend Discovery Circumstances: Numbered Minor Planets (10001)-(15000) – Minor Planet Center 13963 13962 Delambre 13963 13964 La Billardière 013963 Category:Discoveries by Eric Walter Elst Category:Named minor planets 19910803