15262 Abderhalden
Main-belt asteroid
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
15262 Abderhalden (provisional designation 1990 TG4) is a carbonaceous Themistian asteroid from the outer region of the asteroid belt, approximately 12 kilometers in diameter.
| Discovery[1] | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | F. Börngen L. D. Schmadel |
| Discovery site | Tautenburg Obs. |
| Discovery date | 12 October 1990 |
| Designations | |
| (15262) Abderhalden | |
Named after | Emil Abderhalden (Swiss physiologist)[2] |
| 1990 TG4 · 1978 PJ3 1978 RM3 · 1999 FO42 | |
| main-belt · Themis[3] | |
| Orbital characteristics[1] | |
| Epoch 4 September 2017 (JD 2458000.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 0 | |
| Observation arc | 38.82 yr (14,178 days) |
| Aphelion | 3.6694 AU |
| Perihelion | 2.7536 AU |
| 3.2115 AU | |
| Eccentricity | 0.1426 |
| 5.76 yr (2,102 days) | |
| 326.73° | |
| 0° 10m 16.68s / day | |
| Inclination | 0.6286° |
| 5.7800° | |
| 287.51° | |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Dimensions | 8.43 km (calculated)[3] 12.201±0.545 km[4][5] |
| 3.5327±0.0012 h[6] | |
| 0.062±0.029[4][5] 0.08 (assumed)[3] | |
| C[3] | |
| 13.2[4] · 13.282±0.004 (R)[6] · 13.3[1] · 13.43±0.23[7] · 13.73[3] | |
It was discovered by German astronomers Freimut Börngen and Lutz Schmadel at the Karl Schwarzschild Observatory in Tautenburg, eastern Germany, on 12 October 1990.[8] The asteroid was named after Swiss physiologist and biochemist Emil Abderhalden.[2]
Orbit and classification
Abderhalden is a member of the Themis family, a dynamical family of outer main belt asteroids with nearly coplanar ecliptical orbits. It orbits the Sun in the outer main-belt at a distance of 2.8â3.7 astronomical units (AU) once every 5 years and 9 months (2,102 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.14 and an inclination of 1° with respect to the ecliptic.[1] The first precovery was obtained at CrimeaâNauchnij in 1978, extending the asteroid's observation arc by 12 years prior to its discovery.[8]
Physical characteristics
Rotation period
In October 2013, a rotational lightcurve of Abderhalden was obtained from photometric observation taken by astronomers at the Palomar Transient Factory in California. Lightcurve analysis gave a rotation period of 3.5327 hours with a brightness variation of 0.21 magnitude (U=2).[6]
Diameter and albedo
The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes an albedo of 0.08, a standard albedo for carbonaceous asteroids of the Themis family, and calculates a diameter of 8.4 kilometers,[3] while the NEOWISE mission of NASA's space-based Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer finds an albedo of 0.062 with a corresponding diameter of 12.2 kilometers and an absolute magnitude of 13.2.[4]
Naming
This minor planet was named in memory of Swiss biochemist and physiologist Emil Abderhalden (1877â1950). He was a researcher in the field of physiological chemistry, founder of modern dietetics, and promoter of public welfare. Abderhalden taught physiology at the Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg from 1911 until the end of World War II.[2] The approved naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 13 October 2000 (M.P.C. 41387).[9]
