1925 Franklin-Adams
Main-belt asteroid
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1925 Franklin-Adams (prov. designation: 1934 RY) is a stony background asteroid from the central regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 8.9 kilometers (5.5 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 9 September 1934, by Dutch astronomer Hendrik van Gent at the Leiden Southern Station, annex to the Johannesburg Observatory in South Africa.[1] The bright asteroid has a short rotation period of less than 3 hours.[5] It was named after British amateur astronomer John Franklin Adams (1843â1912).[2]
_Franklin-Adams.png)
Franklin-Adams modeled from its lightcurve | |
| Discovery[1] | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | H. van Gent |
| Discovery site | Johannesburg Obs. (Leiden Southern Station) |
| Discovery date | 9 September 1934 |
| Designations | |
| (1925) Franklin-Adams | |
Named after | John Franklin Adams (British astronomer)[2] |
| 1934 RY · 1969 EP1 1970 KH · 1974 KK | |
| main-belt[1][3] · (middle) background[4][5] | |
| Orbital characteristics[3] | |
| Epoch 31 May 2020 (JD 2459000.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 0 | |
| Observation arc | 85.14 yr (31,098 d) |
| Aphelion | 2.9989 AU |
| Perihelion | 2.1046 AU |
| 2.5517 AU | |
| Eccentricity | 0.1752 |
| 4.08 yr (1,489 d) | |
| 11.630° | |
| 0° 14m 30.48s / day | |
| Inclination | 7.7371° |
| 113.47° | |
| 242.08° | |
| Physical characteristics | |
| 8.864±0.114 km[6][7] | |
| 2.978±0.002 h[5][8][a] | |
| 0.356±0.054[6][7] | |
| S (assumed)[9] | |
| 12.0[7] 12.1[1][3] | |
Orbit and classification
Franklin-Adams is a non-family asteroid of the main belt's background population when applying the hierarchical clustering method to its proper orbital elements.[4] It orbits the Sun in the central asteroid belt at a distance of 2.1â3.0 AU once every 4 years and 1 month (1,489 days; semi-major axis of 2.55 AU). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.18 and an inclination of 8° with respect to the ecliptic.[3] The body's observation arc begins with its official discovery observation at Johannesburg.[1]
Naming
This minor planet named after British amateur astronomer John Franklin Adams (1843â1912), who created one of the earliest detailed, photographic atlases of the complete night sky (the Franklin-Adams plates or charts).[10] He later donated his 25-cm Franklin-Adams Star Camera (Franklin-Adams photographic refractor) to the Johannesburg Observatory, which lead to the discovery of Proxima Centauri.[2] The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 20 December 1983 (M.P.C. 8402).[11] Asteroid 982 Franklina, discovered by South African astronomer Harry Edwin Wood at Johannesburg was also named after him.
Physical characteristics
Franklin-Adams is an assumed stony S-type asteroid with a very high albedo of more than 0.3 (see below).[5][9]
Rotation period and poles
In January 2005, a rotational lightcurve of Franklin-Adams was obtained from photometric observations by French amateur astronomer René Roy. Lightcurve analysis gave a rotation period of 3.082 hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.23 magnitude (U=2).[12] In March 2010, photometry at the Palomar Transient Factory in California gave a period of 2.979 with an amplitude of 0.32 magnitude (U=2).[13] In January 2013, American astronomer Brian Warner obtained the so-far best rated lightcurve.[a] It gave a period of 2.978 hours and an amplitude of 0.25 magnitude (U=3).[8]
In 2016, an international study modeled a lightcurve with a concurring period of 2.978301 hours and found a spin axis of (277.0°, 57.0°) and (66.0°, 48.0°) in ecliptic coordinates (λ, β) (U=n.a.).[14]
Diameter and albedo
According to the survey carried out by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent NEOWISE mission, Franklin-Adams measures 8.864 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an unusually high albedo of 0.356,[6] while the Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo for stony asteroids of 0.20 and calculates a diameter of 11.30 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 12.1.[9]
Notes
- Lightcurve plot of 1925 Franklin-Adams with a period of 2.978±0.002 and an amplitude of 0.25 ± 0.02 mag. Observations at the Palmer Divide Observatory by B. D. Warner (2013)
