1851 Lacroute
Main-belt asteroid
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
1851 Lacroute, provisional designation 1950 VA, is an asteroid from the outer region of the asteroid belt, approximately 17 kilometers in diameter.
| Discovery[1] | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | L. Boyer |
| Discovery site | Algiers Obs. |
| Discovery date | 9 November 1950 |
| Designations | |
| (1851) Lacroute | |
Named after | Pierre Lacroute (French astronomer)[2] |
| 1950 VA | |
| main-belt · (inner) | |
| Orbital characteristics[1] | |
| Epoch 4 September 2017 (JD 2458000.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 0 | |
| Observation arc | 66.35 yr (24,236 days) |
| Aphelion | 3.7003 AU |
| Perihelion | 2.5044 AU |
| 3.1024 AU | |
| Eccentricity | 0.1927 |
| 5.46 yr (1,996 days) | |
| 85.690° | |
| 0° 10m 49.44s / day | |
| Inclination | 1.6660° |
| 24.766° | |
| 343.20° | |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Dimensions | 16.89 km (IRAS)[3] 18.158±0.108 km[4] |
| 0.049±0.007[4] 0.0745±0.009 (IRAS)[3] | |
| 12.7[1] | |
It was discovered on 9 November 1950, by French astronomer Louis Boyer at the Algiers Observatory in the capital of Algeria, Northern Africa, and named after French astronomer Pierre Lacroute.[2][5]
Orbit and classification
Lacroute orbits the Sun in the outer main-belt at a distance of 2.5â3.7 AU once every 5 years and 6 months (1,996 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.19 and an inclination of 2° with respect to the ecliptic.[1] As no precoveries were taken, and no prior identifications were made, the body's observation arc begins with its official discovery observation in 1950.[5]
Physical characteristics
According to the surveys carried out by the Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) and NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent NEOWISE mission, Lacroute measures 16.9 and 18.2 kilometers in diameter, and its surface has an albedo of 0.049 and 0.074, respectively.[3][4] As of 2016, the body's spectral type, as well as its rotation period and shape remain unknown.[1][6]
Naming
This minor planet was named in honor of French astronomer Pierre Lacroute (1906â1993), a known astrometrist, president of IAU's Commission 24 in the 1970s, and director of the Observatory of Strasbourg, instrumental in the establishment of the Stellar Data Center (also see SIMBAD).[2]
Lacroute also made an independent reduction of the astrometric star catalogue AGK3, using a technique involving overlapping photographic plates.[2] The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 1 August 1978 (M.P.C. 4419).[7]
