1798 Watts

Main-belt asteroid binary October 2019 yes 1798 Watts #D6D6D6 4 April 1949 Indiana University(Indiana Asteroid Program) Goethe Link Obs. (1798) Watts 1949 GC1934 VS1937 RL1970 YB1973 UD 6 Chester Watts(American astronomer) main-beltFlora 4 September 2017 (JD 2458000.5) 0 82.46 yr (30,117 days) 2.4676 AU 1.9315 AU 2.1996 AU 0.1219 3.26 yr (1,192 days) 136.39° 0.3021 ms / day 6.1941° 44.269° 4.0161° 1Pray-2017 6.45 0.28 km6.631 0.186 km6.986 0.060 km7.14 km (calculated) 3.5060 0.0004 0.24 (assumed)0.2765 0.02580.294 0.053 SMASS = SLSS 12.812.913.05 0.17 1798 Watts, provisional designation 1949 GC, is a stony asteroid and binary system from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 7 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 4 April 1949, by IU's Indiana Asteroid Program at Goethe Link Observatory near Brooklyn, Indiana, United States. The asteroid was named for American astronomer Chester Burleigh Watts. Its small minor-planet moon has a period of 26.96 hours. Orbit and classification Watts is a member of the Flora family, a large group of stony S-type asteroids in the inner main-belt. It orbits the Sun at a distance of 1.9–2.5 AU once every 3 years and 3 months (1,192 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.12 and an inclination of 6° with respect to the ecliptic. Watts was first observed and identified as 1934 VS at Yerkes Observatory in 1934, extending the body's observation arc by 15 years prior to its official discovery observation. Physical characteristics Spectral type In the SMASS classification, Watts is characterized as a common stony S-type asteroid. It is also classified as a LS-type by PanSTARRSs photometric survey. Diameter and albedo According to the survey carried out by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent NEOWISE mission, Watts measures 6.63 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo between 0.276 and 0.294. The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes an albedo of 0.24 – derived from 8 Flora, the largest member and namesake of this asteroid family – and calculates a diameter of 7.14 kilometers with an absolute magnitude of 12.9. Moon and lightcurve In February 2017, a rotational lightcurve of Watts was obtained from photometric observations by . Lightcurve analysis gave a rotation period of 3.5060 hours with a low brightness amplitude of 0.06 magnitude, indicating that the body has a spheroidal shape (U=n.a.). Pray-2017 During the photometric observations, a minor-planet moon was discovered, making Watts a binary asteroid. The satellite of the synchronous binary has an orbital period of 26.96 hours.Pray-2017 Naming This minor planet was named in honour of American astronomer Chester Burleigh Watts (1889–1971), a graduate of Indiana University. He worked at the United States Naval Observatory for 44 years, making distinguished contributions in the field of positional astronomy and pioneered in the field of automation of transit circle observations, which led to results of the highest systematic accuracy. From the late 1940 until 1963 he meticulously mapped every feature on the marginal zone of the Moon. The official 1798 naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 15 June 1973 (M.P.C. 3508). Notes Pray-2017 D. Pray (2017), photometry for (1798) Watts at Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link (CALL). Currently 2017CBET.4374....1P is missing on the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS) References 30em 2017-04-30 last obs. JPL Small-Body Database Browser: 1798 Watts (1949 GC) https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=2001798 Jet Propulsion Laboratory 8 June 2017 Dictionary of Minor Planet Names – (1798) Watts Schmadel Lutz D. Springer Berlin Heidelberg 144 2007 978-3-540-00238-3 10.1007/978-3-540-29925-7_1799 (1798) Watts 1798 Watts (1949 GC) Minor Planet Center https://www.minorplanetcenter.net/db_search/show_object?object_id=1798 19 December 2016 Dictionary of Minor Planet Names – Addendum to Fifth Edition (2006–2008) 2009 https://archive.org/details/dictionaryminorp2008schm limited 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 2009dmpn.book.....S 6 Joseph R. Masiero T. Grav A. K. Mainzer C. R. Nugent J. M. Bauer R. Stevenson S. Sonnett August 2014 Main-belt Asteroids with WISE/NEOWISE: Near-infrared Albedos http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/bib_query?bibcode=2014ApJ...791..121M The Astrophysical Journal 791 2 11 2014ApJ...791..121M 10.1088/0004-637X/791/2/121 1406.6645 19 December 2016 Robert Johnston (1798) Watts johnstonsarchive.net 19 March 2017 http://www.johnstonsarchive.net/astro/astmoons/am-01798.html 8 June 2017 1798 19 December 2016 6 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 6 Joseph R. Masiero A. K. Mainzer T. Grav J. M. Bauer R. M. Cutri C. Nugent M. S. Cabrera November 2012 Preliminary Analysis of WISE/NEOWISE 3-Band Cryogenic and Post-cryogenic Observations of Main Belt Asteroids http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/bib_query?bibcode=2012ApJ...759L...8M The Astrophysical Journal Letters 759 1 5 2012ApJ...759L...8M 10.1088/2041-8205/759/1/L8 1209.5794 19 December 2016 6 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 External links Asteroids with Satellites, Robert Johnston, johnstonsarchive.net 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 1798 1797 Schaumasse 1798 1799 Koussevitzky 001978 001798 Category:Named minor planets 001798 001798 19490404