2019 van Albada, provisional designation 1935 SX1, is a stony Florian asteroid and former spacecraft target from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 8 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 28 September 1935, by Dutch astronomer Hendrik van Gent at Leiden Southern Station, annex to the Johannesburg Observatory in South Africa.[11] The asteroid was later named after Gale Bruno van Albada.[2]
| Discovery [1] | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | H. van Gent |
| Discovery site | Johannesburg Obs. (Leiden Southern Station) |
| Discovery date | 28 September 1935 |
| Designations | |
| (2019) van Albada | |
Named after | Gale Bruno van Albada (Dutch astronomer)[2] |
| 1935 SX1 · 1931 JN 1941 HS · 1964 DG 1971 HB · 1975 ND 1975 PL · A911 KD | |
| main-belt · Flora [3] | |
| Orbital characteristics [1] | |
| Epoch 4 September 2017 (JD 2458000.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 0 | |
| Observation arc | 85.90 yr (31,374 days) |
| Aphelion | 2.6116 AU |
| Perihelion | 1.8701 AU |
| 2.2409 AU | |
| Eccentricity | 0.1655 |
| 3.35 yr (1,225 days) | |
| 221.81° | |
| 0° 17m 37.68s / day | |
| Inclination | 4.0435° |
| 252.20° | |
| 24.949° | |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Dimensions | 7.53±0.51 km[4] 7.865±0.064 km[5] 8.009±0.165 km[6] 9.41 km (calculated)[3] |
| 2.583±0.0029 h (R)[7] 2.72±0.01 h[8] 2.72±0.03 h[8] 2.729±0.001 h[9] 2.730±0.0029 h (S)[7] | |
| 0.496±0.040[5] 0.411±0.093[4] 0.4823±0.0788[6] 0.24 (assumed)[3] | |
| SMASS = S [1] · S [3][10] | |
| 11.9[6] · 12.164±0.001 (R)[7] · 12.20[4] · 12.3[1][3] · 12.71±0.48[10] · 12.822±0.001 (S)[7] | |
van Albada is a member of the Flora family, one of the largest collisional populations of stony asteroids. It orbits the Sun in the inner main-belt at a distance of 1.9–2.6 AU once every 3 years and 4 months (1,225 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.17 and an inclination of 4° with respect to the ecliptic.[1]
In May 1911, the asteroid was first identified as A911 KD at the discovering Johannesburg Observatory. The body’s observation arc begins at Lowell Observatory in 1931, four years prior to its official discovery observation.[11]
van Albada was considered as a flyby target of the NEAR unmanned robotic spacecraft mission in the 1990s.[12] NEAR eventually launched, but visited 253 Mathilde and 433 Eros. There is only a small number of minor planets formerly targeted for spacecraft visitation.
In the SMASS classification, van Albada is a common S-type asteroid.[1] It has also been characterized as a stony asteroid by Pan-STARRS photometric survey.[10]
Between 2012 and 2015, several rotational lightcurves of van Albada were obtained from photometric observations by astronomers Pierre Antonini, Junda Liu, Raoul Behrend and Jean Strajnic, as well as by astronomers at the Palomar Transient Factory in California. Lightcurve analysis gave a short rotation period between 2.72 and 2.73 hours with a brightness variation between 0.13 and 0.20 magnitude (U=2+/2+/2+/2/2).[7][8][9]
According to the surveys carried out by the NEOWISE mission of NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, van Albada measures between 7.53 and 8.009 kilometers in diameter and its surface has a high albedo between 0.411 and 0.496.[4][5][6]
The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes an albedo of 0.24 – derived from 8 Flora, the largest member and namesake of the Flora family – and calculates a diameter of 9.41 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 12.3.[3]
This minor planet was named in memory of Dutch astronomer Gale Bruno van Albada (1911–1972), who was director of the Bosscha Observatory and of the Astronomical Institute at Amsterdam.[2] The approved naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 28 April 1991 (M.P.C. 18135).[13] The lunar crater Van Albada is also named in his honor.
- ^ a b c d e f “JPL Small-Body Database Browser: 2019 van Albada (1935 SX1)” (2017-03-29 last obs.). Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved 30 June 2017.
- ^ a b c Schmadel, Lutz D. (2007). “(2019) van Albada”. Dictionary of Minor Planet Names – (2019) van Albada. Springer Berlin Heidelberg. p. 163. doi:10.1007/978-3-540-29925-7_2020. ISBN 978-3-540-00238-3.
- ^ a b c d e f “LCDB Data for (2019) van Albada”. Asteroid Lightcurve Database (LCDB). Retrieved 30 June 2017.
- ^ a b c d Masiero, Joseph R.; Mainzer, A. K.; Grav, T.; Bauer, J. M.; Cutri, R. M.; Nugent, C.; et al. (November 2012). “Preliminary Analysis of WISE/NEOWISE 3-Band Cryogenic and Post-cryogenic Observations of Main Belt Asteroids”. The Astrophysical Journal Letters. 759 (1): 5. arXiv:1209.5794. Bibcode:2012ApJ…759L…8M. doi:10.1088/2041-8205/759/1/L8. Retrieved 30 June 2017.
- ^ a b c Masiero, Joseph R.; Mainzer, A. K.; Grav, T.; Bauer, J. M.; Cutri, R. M.; Dailey, J.; et al. (November 2011). “Main Belt Asteroids with WISE/NEOWISE. I. Preliminary Albedos and Diameters”. The Astrophysical Journal. 741 (2): 20. arXiv:1109.4096. Bibcode:2011ApJ…741…68M. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/741/2/68. Retrieved 30 June 2017.
- ^ a b c d 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.
- ^ a b c d e 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 30 June 2017.
- ^ a b c Behrend, Raoul. “Asteroids and comets rotation curves – (2019) van Albada”. Geneva Observatory. Retrieved 30 June 2017.
- ^ a b Liu, Junda (October 2015). “Rotation Period of 2019 van Albada”. The Minor Planet Bulletin. 42 (4): 247. Bibcode:2015MPBu…42..247L. ISSN 1052-8091. Retrieved 30 June 2017.
- ^ a b c 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 30 June 2017.
- ^ a b “2019 van Albada (1935 SX1)”. Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 30 June 2017.
- ^ Farquhar, Robert; Jen, Shao-Chiang; McAdams, Jim V. (December 1992). “Extended-mission opportunities for a Discovery-class asteroid rendezvous mission”. NASA Sti/recon Technical Report A. 95: 435–447. Bibcode:1993STIA…9581370F. Retrieved 30 June 2017.
- ^ “MPC/MPO/MPS Archive”. Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 30 June 2017.