12696 Camus
Carbonaceous background asteroid
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
12696 Camus, provisional designation 1989 SF1, is a carbonaceous background asteroid from the central region of the asteroid belt, approximately 9 kilometers in diameter.
| Discovery[1] | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | E. W. Elst |
| Discovery site | La Silla Obs. |
| Discovery date | 26 September 1989 |
| Designations | |
| (12696) Camus | |
Named after | Albert Camus (French writer)[2] |
| 1989 SF1 · 1993 QL2 | |
| main-belt · (middle)[3] background | |
| Orbital characteristics[1] | |
| Epoch 4 September 2017 (JD 2458000.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 0 | |
| Observation arc | 27.59 yr (10,079 days) |
| Aphelion | 2.9984 AU |
| Perihelion | 2.2463 AU |
| 2.6224 AU | |
| Eccentricity | 0.1434 |
| 4.25 yr (1,551 days) | |
| 277.29° | |
| 0° 13m 55.56s / day | |
| Inclination | 7.9950° |
| 160.38° | |
| 128.01° | |
| Physical characteristics | |
| 7.71±3.44 km[4] 9.329±0.056 km[5][6] 11.11 km (calculated)[3] | |
| 3.78±0.04 h[7] | |
| 0.057 (assumed)[3] 0.069±0.009[5][6] 0.130±0.086[4] | |
| C[3][8] | |
| 13.4[4][5] · 13.5[1][3] | |
It was discovered on 26 September 1989, by Belgian astronomer Eric Elst at ESO's La Silla Observatory in northern Chile, and named after French Nobel Prize laureate in literature Albert Camus.[2][9]
Classification and orbit
Camus is a non-family asteroid from the main belt's background population. It orbits the Sun in the central asteroid belt at a distance of 2.2â3.0 AU once every 4 years and 3 months (1,551 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.14 and an inclination of 8° with respect to the ecliptic.[1] The asteroid's observation arc begins with its discovery, as no precoveries were taken and no identifications were made before 1989.[9]
Naming
This minor planet was named after French philosopher, author, and journalist, Albert Camus (1913â1960), who received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1957.[2]
Camus is best known for his novels L'Etranger (The Stranger) and La Peste (The Plague). His main interests were justice, ethics, and politics. As a liberal humanist, he was against the doctrines of Christianity as well as Marxism.[2] The approved naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 20 March 2000 (M.P.C. 39658).[10]
Physical characteristics
Camus has been characterized as a carbonaceous C-type asteroid by Pan-STARRS photometric survey.[8]
Lightcurves
In October 2006, a rotational lightcurve of Camus was obtained from photometric observations by Julian Oey at the Leura Observatory (E17) in Australia. The lightcurve rendered a rotation period of 3.78±0.04 hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.40 in magnitude (U=3-).[7]
Diameter and albedo
According to NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent NEOWISE mission, Camus has an albedo of 0.07 and 0.13 with a corresponding diameter of 9.3 and 7.7 kilometers, respectively.[4][5][6] The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo for carbonaceous asteroids of 0.057 and calculates a larger diameter of 11.1 kilometer with an absolute magnitude of 13.5.[3]
