6805 Abstracta

6805 Abstracta
Discovery [1]
Discovered by C. J. van Houten
I. van Houten
T. Gehrels
Discovery site Palomar Obs.
Discovery date 24 September 1960
Designations
MPC designation 6805 Abstracta
Named after
 Astronomy and Astrophysics Abstracts (AAA)[2]
4600 P–L · 1988 RG11
main-belt · Themis [3]
Orbital characteristics [1]
Epoch 27 June 2015 (JD 2457200.5)
Uncertainty parameter 0
Observation arc 65.55 yr (23,941 days)
Aphelion 3.6853 AU
Perihelion 2.6882 AU
3.1867 AU
Eccentricity 0.1564
5.69 yr (2,078 days)
143.32°
Inclination 1.8950°
136.68°
338.23°
Physical characteristics
Dimensions 8.41 km (calculated)[3]
152.1834±0.8953 h[4]
0.08 (assumed)[3]
C [3]
13.0[1]

    6805 Abstracta, provisional designation 4600 P–L, is a carbonaceous asteroid and slow rotator from the outer region of the asteroid belt, about 8 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 24 September 1960, by Dutch astronomers Ingrid and Cornelis van Houten at Leiden, on photographic plates taken by Dutch–American astronomer Tom Gehrels at the U.S. Palomar Observatory in California.[5]

    The dark C-type asteroid orbits the Sun at a distance of 2.7–3.7 AU once every 5 years and 8 months (2,078 days). Its orbit shows an eccentricity of 0.16 and is tilted by 2 degrees to the plane of the ecliptic.[1] A photometric light-curve analysis at the U.S. Palomar Transient Factory in 2011 rendered a long rotation period of 152.1834±0.8953 hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.78 in magnitude.[4] The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link (CALL) assumes a low albedo of 0.08 for the body's surface, which is typical for carbonaceous asteroids.[3]

    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 and Ingrid van Houten at Leiden Observatory, where astrometry was carried out. The trio are credited with several thousand asteroid discoveries.

    The minor planet was named for the astronomical bibliography Astronomy and Astrophysics Abstracts (AAA). The AAA was founded in 1969 and present a comprehensive documentation of all aspects of astronomy, astrophysics and related fields. The AAA are prepared under the auspices of the International Astronomical Union by a special department of the Astronomisches Rechen-Institut, Heidelberg. The department has recorded, abstracted and indexed more than 500,000 documents. For many years it has been headed by German astronomer Lutz Schmadel, known for his Dictionary of Minor Planet Names, and after whom the minor planet 2234 Schmadel is named. AAA is the direct successor of the Astronomischer Jahresbericht, which was founded in 1900. The AAA already amount to more than 60 volumes, occupying more than 3 meters of shelf space.[2]

    References

    1. 1 2 3 4 "JPL Small-Body Database Browser: 6805 Abstracta (4600 P-L)" (2015-06-11 last obs.). Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved January 2016.
    2. 1 2 Schmadel, Lutz D. (2003). Dictionary of Minor Planet Names – (6805) Abstracta. Springer Berlin Heidelberg. p. 558. ISBN 978-3-540-00238-3. Retrieved January 2016.
    3. 1 2 3 4 5 "LCDB Data for (6805) Abstracta". Asteroid Lightcurve Database (LCDB). Retrieved January 2016.
    4. 1 2 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. Bibcode:2015AJ....150...75W. doi:10.1088/0004-6256/150/3/75. Retrieved January 2016.
    5. ↑ "6805 Abstracta (4600 P-L)". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved January 2016.

    External links


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