astro.wikisort.org - Asteroid

23436 Alekfursenko, provisional designation 1982 UF₈, is a carbonaceous Hygiean asteroid from the outer region of the asteroid belt, approximately 8.4 kilometers (5.2 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 21 October 1982, by Russian–Ukrainian astronomer Lyudmila Zhuravleva at the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory, Nauchnyj, on the Crimean peninsula.[1] The likely C-type asteroid has a rotation period of 3.6 hours.[4] It was named after Russian historian Aleksandr Fursenko.[3]

23436 Alekfursenko

Discovery [1][2]
Discovered by	L. V. Zhuravleva
Discovery site	Crimean Astrophysical Obs.
Discovery date	21 October 1982
Designations
MPC designation	(23436) Alekfursenko
Named after	Aleksandr Fursenko [3] (Russian historian)
Alternative designations	1982 UF8 · 1982 VU6 1982 VZ10 · 1987 QP2 1999 XD167
Minor planet category	main-belt · (outer) [4] Hygiea [5]
Orbital characteristics [2]
Epoch 27 April 2019 (JD 2458600.5)
Uncertainty parameter 0
Observation arc	36.55 yr (13,349 d)
Aphelion	3.7754 AU
Perihelion	2.5432 AU
Semi-major axis	3.1593 AU
Eccentricity	0.1950
Orbital period (sidereal)	5.62 yr (2,051 d)
Mean anomaly	186.36°
Mean motion	0° 10m 31.8s / day
Inclination	3.7682°
Longitude of ascending node	309.70°
Argument of perihelion	87.307°
Physical characteristics
Mean diameter	8.434±0.13 km[6][7][8]
Synodic rotation period	3.627672±0.000002 h[9] 3.628±0.0004 h[10]
Geometric albedo	0.082±0.016[6][7]
Spectral type	C (assumed)[4]
Absolute magnitude (H)	13.8[1][2] 13.7[6]

Orbit and classification

Alekfursenko is a member of the Hygiea family (601),[5] a very large family of carbonaceous outer-belt asteroids, named after the fourth-largest asteroid, 10 Hygiea.[11] It orbits the Sun in the outer main-belt at a distance of 2.5–3.8 AU once every 5 years and 7 months (2,051 days; semi-major axis of 3.16 AU). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.20 and an inclination of 4° with respect to the ecliptic.[2] The asteroid's observation arc begins with its discovery observation in 1982, as neither precoveries nor prior identifications were obtained.[1]

Naming

This minor planet was named in honor of Russian historian Aleksandr Fursenko (1927–2008), expert in topics such as international relations, U.S. history, and Russian foreign economic policy. He was also a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences.[3] The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 24 November 2007 (M.P.C. 61268).[12]

Physical characteristics

Rotation period

In November 2010, a rotational lightcurve of Alekfursenko was obtained from photometric observations made by astronomers at the Palomar Transient Factory in California. Lightcurve analysis gave a rotation period of 3.6277 hours with a brightness variation of 0.42 magnitude (U=2).[10] A modeled lightcurve using photometric data from the Lowell Photometric Database and from the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) was published in 2018. It gave a concurring sidereal period of 3.627672 hours, as well as a spin axis at (−1.0°, 54.0°) in ecliptic coordinates (λ, β).[9]

Diameter and albedo

According to the survey carried out by the NEOWISE mission of NASA's space-based WISE spacecraft, Alekfursenko measures 8.4 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo of 0.08,[6] while the Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo for carbonaceous asteroids of 0.057 and calculates a diameter of 8.0 kilometers with an absolute magnitude of 14.22.[4]

References

External links

• Asteroid Lightcurve Database (LCDB), query form (info Archived 16 December 2017 at the Wayback Machine)
• Dictionary of Minor Planet Names, Google books
• Discovery Circumstances: Numbered Minor Planets (20001)-(25000) – Minor Planet Center
• 23436 Alekfursenko at AstDyS-2, Asteroids—Dynamic Site
  • Ephemeris · Observation prediction · Orbital info · Proper elements · Observational info
• 23436 Alekfursenko at the JPL Small-Body Database
  • Close approach · Discovery · Ephemeris · Orbit diagram · Orbital elements · Physical parameters

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