2678 Aavasaksa
| Discovery [1] | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | Y. Väisälä |
| Discovery site | Turku Observatory |
| Discovery date | 24 February 1938 |
| Designations | |
| MPC designation | 2678 Aavasaksa |
Named after |
Aavasaksa (hill in Finnish Lapland)[2] |
|
1938 DF1 · 1952 KM 1955 DH · 1977 SX1 1979 FP2 · A916 WA | |
| main-belt · Flora [3] | |
| Orbital characteristics [1] | |
| Epoch 27 June 2015 (JD 2457200.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 0 | |
| Observation arc | 77.82 yr (28,425 days) |
| Aphelion | 2.4537 AU |
| Perihelion | 2.0652 AU |
| 2.2594 AU | |
| Eccentricity | 0.0859 |
| 3.40 yr (1,241 days) | |
| 331.75° | |
| Inclination | 3.4440° |
| 54.053° | |
| 46.058° | |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Dimensions |
8.371±0.096 km[4] 8.19 km (calculated)[3] |
| 24 h[5] | |
|
0.2764±0.0367[4] 0.24 (assumed)[3] | |
| S [3] | |
| 12.6[1] | |
|
| |
2678 Aavasaksa, provisional designation 1938 DF1, is a stony asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, about 8 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered by Finnish astronomer Yrjö Väisälä at Turku Observatory in Southwest Finland, on 24 February 1938.[6]
The S-type asteroid is a member of the Flora family, one of the largest groups of stony asteroids in the main-belt. It orbits the Sun at a distance of 2.1–2.5 AU once every 3 years and 5 months (1,241 days). Its orbit shows an eccentricity of 0.09 and an inclination of 3 degrees from the plane of the ecliptic.[1]
In 2009, a provisional photometric light-curve analysis at the U.S. Via Capote Observatory in California gave it a somewhat longer than average rotation period of 24 hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.4 in magnitude.[5] According to the survey carried out by the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, the asteroid's surface has an albedo of 0.28, while the Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link (CALL) assumes a more moderate value of 0.24, which is also identical to the albedo of the Flora family's namesake, 8 Flora.[3][4]
The minor planet is named after Aavasaksa, a sharp-edged hill in Finnish Lapland, just south of the Arctic Circle. The hill is located in the Tornio River Valley, after which the minor planet 1471 Tornio is named, and is often considered the southernmost point in Finland, where the natural phenomenon of the midnight sun is visible each June.[2]
References
- 1 2 3 4 "JPL Small-Body Database Browser: 2678 Aavasaksa (1938 DF1)" (2015-12-20 last obs.). Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved January 2016.
- 1 2 Schmadel, Lutz D. (2007). Dictionary of Minor Planet Names – (2678) Aavasaksa. Springer Berlin Heidelberg. p. 219. ISBN 978-3-540-00238-3. Retrieved January 2016.
- 1 2 3 4 5 "LCDB Data for (2678) Aavasaksa". Asteroid Lightcurve Database (LCDB). Retrieved January 2016.
- 1 2 3 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. Bibcode:2011ApJ...741...90M. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/741/2/90. Retrieved January 2016.
- 1 2 Brinsfield, James W. (July 2009). "Asteroid Lightcurve Analysis at the Via Capote Observatory: 2009 1st Quarter". Bulletin of the Minor Planets (Section of the Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers) 36 (3): 127–128. Bibcode:2009MPBu...36..127B. ISSN 1052-8091. Retrieved January 2016.
- ↑ "2678 Aavasaksa (1938 DF1)". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved January 2016.
External links
- Asteroid Lightcurve Database (LCDB), query form (info)
- Dictionary of Minor Planet Names, Google books
- Asteroids and comets rotation curves, CdR – Observatoire de Genève, Raoul Behrend
- Discovery Circumstances: Numbered Minor Planets (1)-(5000) – Minor Planet Center
- 2678 Aavasaksa at the JPL Small-Body Database
| ||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||