936 Kunigunde
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_Kunigunde.png) Modelled shape of Kunigunde from its light curve | |
| Discovery[1] | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | K. Reinmuth |
| Discovery site | Heidelberg Obs. |
| Discovery date | 8 September 1920 |
| Designations | |
| (936) Kunigunde | |
Named after | Name picked from the almanac Lahrer Hinkender Bote[2] |
| A920 RB · 1930 KD 1930 KR · 1931 TO2 1942 RD1 · 1984 BK7 A913 HA · A921 WD 1920 HN · 1913 HA | |
| main-belt[1][3] · (outer) Themis[4][5] | |
| Orbital characteristics[3] | |
| Epoch 31 May 2020 (JD 2459000.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 0 | |
| Observation arc | 98.95 yr (36,140 d) |
| Aphelion | 3.6843 AU |
| Perihelion | 2.5802 AU |
| 3.1323 AU | |
| Eccentricity | 0.1762 |
| 5.54 yr (2,025 d) | |
| 8.7542° | |
| 0° 10m 40.08s / day | |
| Inclination | 2.3660° |
| 62.161° | |
| 253.49° | |
| Physical characteristics | |
| 9.3650±0.0006 h[9][10] | |
Pole ecliptic latitude | |
| B (S3OS2)[11] | |
| 10.4[1][3] | |
936 Kunigunde (prov. designation: A920 RB or 1920 HN) is a dark Themistian asteroid from the outer regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 40 kilometers (25 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 8 September 1920, by German astronomer Karl Reinmuth at the Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory.[1] The carbonaceous B-type asteroid has a rotation period of 9.4 hours. It was named "Kunigunde", a common German female name unrelated to the discoverer's contemporaries, that was taken from the almanac Lahrer Hinkender Bote.[2]
Kunigunde is a core member of the Themis family (602), when applying the hierarchical clustering method to its proper orbital elements. The very large family of carbonaceous asteroids is named after 24 Themis.[4][5][12]: 23 Kunigunde orbits the Sun in the outer main-belt at a distance of 2.6–3.7 AU once every 5 years and 6 months (2,025 days; semi-major axis of 3.13 AU). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.18 and an inclination of 2° with respect to the ecliptic.[3] The asteroid was first observed as A913 HA (1913 HA) at Simeiz Observatory on 27 April 1913. The body's observation arc begins at Heidelberg with its official discovery observation on 8 September 1920.[1]
Naming
This minor planet was named "Kunigunde", after a female name picked from the Lahrer Hinkender Bote, published in Lahr, southern Germany.[2][13] A Hinkender Bote (lit. "limping messenger") was a very popular almanac, especially in the Alemannic-speaking region from the late 17th throughout the early 20th centuries. The calendar section contains feast days, the dates of important fairs and astronomical ephemerides. For 3 March, the calendar gives "Kunigund" as the German name day analogue next to Kunigunde and Titian, the protestant and catholic entries in the calendar of saints, likely referring to Cunigunde of Luxembourg and Titian of Brescia.[14]
Reinmuth's calendar names
As with 22 other asteroids—starting with 913 Otila, and ending with 1144 Oda—Reinmuth selected names from this calendar due to his many asteroid discoveries for which he had trouble thinking of proper names. These names are not related to the discoverer's contemporaries. Lutz Schmadel, the author of the Dictionary of Minor Planet Names learned about Reinmuth's source of inspiration from private communications with Dutch astronomer Ingrid van Houten-Groeneveld, who worked as a young astronomer at Heidelberg.[2]
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