3181 Ahnert
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| Discovery[1] | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | F. Börngen |
| Discovery site | Karl Schwarzschild Obs. |
| Discovery date | 8 March 1964 |
| Designations | |
| (3181) Ahnert | |
Named after | Paul Ahnert (astronomer)[2] |
| 1964 EC · 1932 RK 1936 XJ · 1951 GC1 1964 DE · 1975 NH1 1975 RD · 1979 SC12 1979 UO4 · 1979 WD8 1979 WU1 · 1982 RE1 | |
| main-belt · Flora[3] | |
| Orbital characteristics[1] | |
| Epoch 4 September 2017 (JD 2458000.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 0 | |
| Observation arc | 86.12 yr (31,454 days) |
| Aphelion | 2.3743 AU |
| Perihelion | 2.0840 AU |
| 2.2292 AU | |
| Eccentricity | 0.0651 |
| 3.33 yr (1,216 days) | |
| 9.5372° | |
| 0° 17m 45.96s / day | |
| Inclination | 3.9579° |
| 221.14° | |
| 304.92° | |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Dimensions | 7.961±0.097[4] 8.19 km (calculated)[3] 8.511±0.031 km[5] 8.57±0.24 km[6] |
| 0.1856±0.0266[5] 0.216±0.019[4] 0.24 (assumed)[3] 0.264±0.029[6] | |
| SMASS = S[1] · S[3][7] | |
| 12.40[6] · 12.6[1][3] · 12.8[5] · 12.98±0.06[7] | |
3181 Ahnert, provisional designation 1964 EC, is a stony Flora asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, about 8 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered by German astronomer Freimut Börngen at the Karl Schwarzschild Observatory in Tautenburg, eastern Germany, on 8 March 1964.[8]
The S-type asteroid is a member of the Flora family, one of the largest groups of stony asteroids in the main-belt. It orbits the Sun in the inner main-belt at a distance of 2.1–2.4 AU once every 3 years and 4 months (1,216 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.07 and an inclination of 4° with respect to the ecliptic.[1] The first precovery was obtained at Lowell Observatory in 1931, extending the asteroid's observation arc by 33 years prior to its discovery.[8]
Physical characteristics
According to the surveys carried out by NASA's space-based Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent NEOWISE mission, the asteroid measures between 8.0 and 8.6 kilometers and its surface has an albedo between 0.19 and 0.26.[4][6][5] The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes an intermediate albedo of 0.24 – derived from 8 Flora, the largest member and namesake of this orbital family – and calculates a diameter of 8.2 kilometers.[3] As of 2016, the asteroid's rotation period and shape still remain unknown.
