980 Anacostia

980 Anacostia
Discovery
Discovered by George Henry Peters
Discovery site Washington, D.C.
Discovery date November 21, 1921
Designations
1921 W19
Orbital characteristics[1]
Epoch August 18, 2005 (JDCT 2453600.5)
Aphelion 3.294 AU
Perihelion 2.189 AU
2.741 AU
Eccentricity 0.201
4.539 a
169.634°
Inclination 15.882°
286.051°
69.637°

    980 Anacostia is a minor planet orbiting the Sun that was discovered by American astronomer George Henry Peters on November 21, 1921.

    Measurements using the adaptive optics system at the W. M. Keck Observatory give a diameter of 70 ± 6 km. This is 23% smaller than the diameter estimated from the IRAS observatory data. The size ratio between the major and minor axes is 1.09.[2]

    Polarimetric study of this asteroid reveals anomalous properties that suggests the regolith consists of a mixture of low and high albedo material. This may have been caused by fragmentation of an asteroid substrate with the spectral properties of CO3/CV3 carbonaceous chondrites.[3]

    References

    1. ↑ Yeomans, Donald K., "980 Anacostia", JPL Small-Body Database Browser (NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory), retrieved 2013-03-30.
    2. ↑ Marchis, F.; et al. (November 2006), "Shape, size and multiplicity of main-belt asteroids. I. Keck Adaptive Optics survey", Icarus 185 (1), pp. 39–63, Bibcode:2006Icar..185...39M, doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2006.06.001, PMC 2600456, PMID 19081813, retrieved 2013-03-27.
    3. ↑ Gil-Hutton, R.; et al. (April 2008), "New cases of unusual polarimetric behavior in asteroids", Astronomy and Astrophysics 482 (1), pp. 309–314, Bibcode:2008A&A...482..309G, doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20078965.

    External links


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