1551 Argelander

Orbit and classification

Argelander is a non-family asteroid from the main belt's background population. It orbits the Sun in the inner main-belt at a distance of 2.2–2.6 AU once every 3 years and 9 months (1,353 days; semi-major axis of 2.39 AU). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.07 and an inclination of 4° with respect to the ecliptic. The body's observation arc begins with its first observation as at Heidelberg Observatory in January 1930, or 8 years prior to its official discovery observation at Turku.

Naming

This minor planet was named after Friedrich Wilhelm Argelander (1799–1875), author of the Bonner Durchmusterung and 19th-century head of the ancient observatory at Turku and Bonn . The official was published by the Minor Planet Center on 30 January 1964 (M.P.C. 2278). The lunar crater Argelander is also named after him.

Physical characteristics

Argelander is an assumed S-type asteroid.

Rotation period and poles

In August 2017, a rotational lightcurve of Argelander was obtained from photometric observations at the Chilean Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory using the SARA South Telescope. Lightcurve analysis gave a rotation period of hours and a brightness variation of 0.48 magnitude (). In January 2012, astronomers at the Palomar Transient Factory had also determined a period of with an amplitude of 0.41 magnitude ().

A modeled lightcurve using photometric data from the Lowell Photometric Database was published in 2016. It gave a concurring period of hours, as well as two spin axes at (3.0°, −81.0°) and (183.0°, −72.0°) in ecliptic coordinates (λ, β).

Diameter and albedo

According to the surveys carried out by the Japanese Akari satellite and the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, Argelander measures between 9.2 and 11.0 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo between 0.19 and 0.30. The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo for a stony asteroid of 0.20 and calculates a diameter of 9.60 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 12.45.

References