31641 Cevasco
Stony main-belt asteroid
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31641 Cevasco (provisional designation 1999 GW34) is a stony asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 3.3 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 6 April 1999, by the Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research project at Lincoln Laboratory's Experimental Test Site in Socorro, New Mexico, United States. The asteroid was named for Hannah Cevasco, a 2015 Broadcom MASTERS awardee.[2]
(Broadcom MASTERS awardee)[2]
| Discovery[1] | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | LINEAR |
| Discovery site | Lincoln Lab's ETS |
| Discovery date | 6 April 1999 |
| Designations | |
Named after | Hannah Olivia Cevasco (Broadcom MASTERS awardee)[2] |
| 1999 GW34 · 1993 RR14 | |
| main-belt · (inner)[3] Nysa–Polana complex | |
| Orbital characteristics[1] | |
| Epoch 4 September 2017 (JD 2458000.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 0 | |
| Observation arc | 23.42 yr (8,554 days) |
| Aphelion | 2.7515 AU |
| Perihelion | 2.1234 AU |
| 2.4374 AU | |
| Eccentricity | 0.1289 |
| 3.81 yr (1,390 days) | |
| 347.07° | |
| Inclination | 1.2136° |
| 278.36° | |
| 215.87° | |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Dimensions | 2.737±0.168[4][5] 3.26 km (calculated)[3] |
| 2.6556±0.1936 h[3] 2.8167±0.0127 h[6] 2.820±0.010 h[7] | |
| 0.20 (assumed)[3] 0.3108±0.0672[4] 0.311±0.067[5] | |
| S[3] | |
| 14.8[1][3] · 14.940[7] | |
Orbit and classification
Cevasco orbits the Sun in the inner main-belt at a distance of 2.1–2.8 AU once every 3 years and 10 months (1,390 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.13 and an inclination of 1° with respect to the ecliptic.[1]
The asteroid's observation arc begins 6 years prior to its official discovery observation, with its first identification as 1993 RR14 at ESO's La Silla Observatory in 1993.[2]
Physical characteristics
Lightcurves
Three rotational lightcurves of Cevasco were obtained from photometric observations at the Palomar Transient Factory between 2010 and 2014. Lightcurve analysis gave a rotation period of 2.6556, 2.8167 and 2.820 hours with a brightness variation of 0.71, 0.48 and 0.54 magnitude, respectively (U=2/2/2).[6][7]
Diameter and albedo
According to the survey carried out by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent NEOWISE mission, Cevasco measures 2.7 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo of 0.311,[4][5] while the Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo for a stony asteroid of 0.20 and calculates a diameter of 3.3 kilometers with an absolute magnitude of 14.8.[3]
Naming
This minor planet was named in honor of Hannah Olivia Cevasco (born 2000) finalist in the 2015 Broadcom MASTERS, a math and science competition for middle school students, for her medicine and health sciences project. At the time she attended the St. Charles School in California.[2]