1953 Rupertwildt
| Discovery [1] | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | Indiana Asteroid Program |
| Discovery site | Goethe Link Obs. |
| Discovery date | 29 October 1951 |
| Designations | |
| MPC designation | 1953 Rupertwildt |
Named after | Rupert Wildt [2] |
|
1951 UK · 1929 VC 1929 WD · 1934 RJ 1951 WG · 1958 BD | |
| main-belt | |
| Orbital characteristics [1] | |
| Epoch 27 June 2015 (JD 2457200.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 0 | |
| Observation arc | 85.86 yr (31,362 days) |
| Aphelion | 3.6758 AU |
| Perihelion | 2.5395 AU |
| 3.1076 AU | |
| Eccentricity | 0.1828 |
| 5.48 yr (2,001 days) | |
| 203.02° | |
| Inclination | 2.4595° |
| 74.275° | |
| 327.06° | |
| Physical characteristics | |
| 11.9 | |
|
| |
1953 Rupertwildt, provisionally designated 1951 UK, is the name of an asteroid dwelling in the asteroid belt. It was discovered at the U.S. Goethe Link Observatory near Brooklyn, Indiana by the Indiana Asteroid Program on October 29, 1951.[3] The asteroid orbits the Sun at a distance of 2.5–3.7 AU once every five and a half years (2,001 days). Its orbit is nearly coplanar to the ecliptic inclined by only 2 degrees and shows an eccentricity of 0.18.[1]
It was named in memory of German–American astronomer Rupert Wildt (1905–1976), awarded with the Eddington Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society for his discovery of the importance of negative hydrogen ions as a contributor to the solar atmosphere's opacity. He was one of the first to model the interior of the giant planets, and he identified methane and ammonia as the cause for the absorption bands in the red part of their spectra. Wildt was a professor in Yale University's Department of Astronomy and its first scientific representative on the Board of Directors of the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) and served two terms as president and chairman of the board in the 1960s and 1970s.[2] The lunar crater Wildt is also named in his honour.
References
- 1 2 3 "JPL Small-Body Database Browser: 1953 Rupertwildt (1951 UK)" (2015-08-14 last obs.). Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved November 2015.
- 1 2 Schmadel, Lutz D. (2003). Dictionary of Minor Planet Names – (1953) Rupertwildt. Springer Berlin Heidelberg. p. 157. ISBN 978-3-540-29925-7. Retrieved November 2015.
- ↑ "1953 Rupertwildt (1951 UK)". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved November 2015.
External links
- Dictionary of Minor Planet Names, Google books
- 1953 Rupertwildt at the JPL Small-Body Database
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