4147 Lennon
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Discovery[1] | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | B. A. Skiff |
| Discovery site | Anderson Mesa Stn. |
| Discovery date | 12 January 1983 |
| Designations | |
| (4147) Lennon | |
Named after | John Lennon (musician, The Beatles)[2] |
| 1983 AY · 1971 YG 1980 KA | |
| main-belt · Vestian[3] | |
| Orbital characteristics[1] | |
| Epoch 4 September 2017 (JD 2458000.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 0 | |
| Observation arc | 44.51 yr (16,258 days) |
| Aphelion | 2.5524 AU |
| Perihelion | 2.1712 AU |
| 2.3618 AU | |
| Eccentricity | 0.0807 |
| 3.63 yr (1,326 days) | |
| 88.732° | |
| 0° 16m 17.4s / day | |
| Inclination | 5.7326° |
| 288.57° | |
| 302.94° | |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Dimensions | 5.171±0.087 km[4][5] 7.13±0.37 km[6] 7.46 km (calculated)[3] |
| 137 h[7] | |
| 0.20 (assumed)[3] 0.240±0.049[6] 0.4166±0.0564[4] | |
| V[7]: 5 · S[3] | |
| 12.90[6] · 13.0[1][3][4] · 13.63±0.34[8] | |
4147 Lennon, provisional designation 1983 AY, is a stony Vestian asteroid and a potentially slow rotator from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 7 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered by American astronomer Brian Skiff at Lowell's Anderson Mesa Station on 12 January 1983.[9] It was later named after musician John Lennon.[2]
Lennon is a member of the Vesta family, which is named after the main-belt's second largest asteroid, 4 Vesta. It orbits the Sun in the inner main-belt at a distance of 2.2–2.6 AU once every 3 years and 8 months (1,326 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.08 and an inclination of 6° with respect to the ecliptic.[1] The first observation was made at Crimea–Nauchnij in 1971, extending the asteroid's observation arc by 12 years prior to its discovery.[9]
Physical characteristics
Lennon has been characterized as a V-type asteroid.[7]: 5
Slow rotator
In October 2004, a rotational lightcurve of Lennon was obtained during a photometric survey of V-type asteroids at several observatories in Japan. The fragmentary lightcurve gave a very long rotation period of 137 hours with a high brightness variation of 0.6 in magnitude (U=1).[7]
Diameter and albedo
According to the survey carried out by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent NEOWISE mission, Lennon measures 5.2 and 7.1 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo of 0.24 of 0.42, respectively.[4][5][6] The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo for S-type asteroids of 0.20 and calculates a diameter of 7.5 kilometers with an absolute magnitude of 13.0.[3] The discrepancy is due to disagreement on the body's spectral type (V or S).
