1590 Tsiolkovskaja

Classification and orbit

Tsiolkovskaja is a member of the Flora family, a large group of stony S-type asteroids. It orbits the Sun in the inner main-belt at a distance of 1.9–2.6 AU once every 3 years and 4 months (1,217 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.16 and an inclination of 4° with respect to the ecliptic. Tsiolkovskaja was first observed at Heidelberg Observatory in 1907, extending the body's observation arc by 26 years prior to its discovery observation.

Physical characteristics

Several rotational lightcurves were obtained from photometric observations. They gave a concurring, well-defined rotation period between 6.700 and 6.737 hours with a brightness variation of 0.10–0.40 in magnitude. Tsiolkovskaja has a relatively high albedo in the range of 0.21 to 0.42, according to the surveys carried out by IRAS, Akari, and WISE/NEOWISE, while the Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link derives a moderate albedo of 0.23.

Naming

This minor planet was named in honor of Soviet–Russian rocket scientist Konstantin Tsiolkovsky (1857–1935), considered to be one of the founding fathers of rocketry and astronautics and instrumental to the success of the Soviet space program. The official was published by the Minor Planet Center on 31 January 1962 (M.P.C. 2116). The lunar crater Tsiolkovskiy is also named after him.

References

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