2708 Burns
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_Burns.png) Shape model of Burns from its lightcurve | |
| Discovery[1] | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | E. Bowell |
| Discovery site | Anderson Mesa Stn. |
| Discovery date | 24 November 1981 |
| Designations | |
| (2708) Burns | |
Named after | Joseph A. Burns[1] (American astronomer) |
| 1981 WT · 1951 GG 1961 DN · 1965 YB 1978 EL3 · A912 AE | |
| main-belt[1][2] · (outer) Themis[3][4] | |
| Orbital characteristics[2] | |
| Epoch 23 March 2018 (JD 2458200.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 0 | |
| Observation arc | 66.42 yr (24,261 d) |
| Aphelion | 3.6268 AU |
| Perihelion | 2.5337 AU |
| 3.0803 AU | |
| Eccentricity | 0.1774 |
| 5.41 yr (1,975 d) | |
| 227.73° | |
| 0° 10m 56.28s / day | |
| Inclination | 2.7828° |
| 111.65° | |
| 331.24° | |
| Physical characteristics | |
| 13.63±3.61 km[5] 20.085±0.110 km[6] 20.263±0.244 km[7] 20.4±2.0 km[8] 22±2 km[9] | |
| 5.315±0.003 h[10] | |
| 0.051±0.003[7] 0.06±0.01[9] 0.07±0.01[8] 0.0836±0.0151[6] 0.12±0.11[5] | |
| SMASS = B[2][3] | |
| 11.8[6] · 12.00[5][8][9] 12.1[2][3] | |
2708 Burns (prov. designation: 1981 WT) is a carbonaceous Themistian asteroid from the outer regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 19 kilometers (12 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 24 November 1981, by American astronomer Edward Bowell at the Anderson Mesa Station near Flagstaff, Arizona, in the United States. It was named after American planetary scientist Joseph A. Burns.[1] The likely elongated B-type asteroid has a rotation period of 5.3 hours.[3]
Burns is a Themistian asteroid that belongs to the Themis family (602),[3][4] a very large family of carbonaceous asteroids, named after 24 Themis.[11] It orbits the Sun in the outer main-belt at a distance of 2.5–3.6 AU once every 5 years and 5 months (1,975 days; semi-major axis of 3.08 AU). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.18 and an inclination of 3° with respect to the ecliptic.[2]
The asteroid was first observed as A912 AE at Winchester Observatory (799) in January 1912. The body's observation arc begins with a precovery taken at Goethe Link Observatory in February 1950, more than 31 years prior to its official discovery observation at Anderson Mesa.[1]
Naming
This minor planet was named after Joseph A. Burns (born 1941), American planetary scientist and astronomer at Cornell University in New York,[1] and a co-discoverer of the trans-Neptunian object (385191) at Palomar in 1997. The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 4 August 1982 (M.P.C. 7158).[12]
