1846 Bengt

1846 Bengt
Discovery[1]
Discovered by Palomar–Leiden survey
C. J. van Houten, I. van Houten-Groeneveld,
Tom Gehrels
Discovery site Palomar Obs.
Discovery date 24 September 1960
Designations
MPC designation 1846 Bengt
Named after
Bengt Strömgren[2]
6553 P-L · 1951 CW1
1957 YP
main-belt
Orbital characteristics[1]
Epoch 27 June 2015 (JD 2457200.5)
Uncertainty parameter 0
Observation arc 57.21 yr (20,897 days)
Aphelion 2.6711 AU
Perihelion 2.0070 AU
2.3391 AU
Eccentricity 0.1419
3.58 yr (1306.7 days)
35.307°
Inclination 3.1839°
19.097°
75.361°
Earth MOID 1.0271 AU
Physical characteristics
Dimensions 11.4 km
0.0781
13.8

    1846 Bengt, provisional designation 6553 P–L, is an asteroid from the main-belt discovered on September 24, 1960 by Cornelis van Houten, Ingrid van Houten-Groeneveld and Tom Gehrels, who took the photographic plates at Palomar Observatory. The asteroid measures about 11 kilometers in diameter and orbits the Sun at a distance of 2.0–2.7 AU once every 3.6 years.[1]

    It was named after renowned Danish astronomer Bengt Strömgren (1908–1987), on the occasion of his 70th birthday. He was an authority in the field of stellar structure and stellar evolution, director of the Yerkes Observatory from 1951 to 1957, and president of the International Astronomical Union (1970–1973).[2]

    The 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 Cornelis Johannes van Houten and Ingrid van Houten-Groeneveld at Leiden Observatory. The trio are credited with several thousand asteroid discoveries.

    References

    1. 1 2 3 "JPL Small-Body Database Browser: 1846 Bengt (6553 P-L)" (2015-03-15 last obs.). Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved October 2015.
    2. 1 2 Schmadel, Lutz D. (2003). Dictionary of Minor Planet Names – (1846) Bengt. Springer Berlin Heidelberg. p. 148. ISBN 978-3-540-29925-7. Retrieved October 2015.

    External links


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