Astronomy:809 Lundia

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809 Lundia
809Lun-LB1-mag17.jpg
Asteroid 809 Lundia (apparent magnitude 16.6) near a mag 15.6 star
Discovery
Discovered byMax Wolf
Discovery date11 August 1915
Designations
(809) Lundia
Pronunciation/ˈlʌndiə/
Named afterLund Observatory
1915 XP; 1936 VC
Minor planet categoryMain belt
Orbital characteristics[1]
Epoch 31 July 2016 (JD 2457600.5)
Uncertainty parameter 0
Observation arc100.48 yr (36700 d)
|{{{apsis}}}|helion}}2.72316 astronomical unit|AU (407.379 Gm)
|{{{apsis}}}|helion}}1.84193 AU (275.549 Gm)
2.28254 AU (341.463 Gm)
Eccentricity0.19304
Orbital period3.45 yr (1259.6 d)
Mean anomaly76.7867°
Mean motion0° 17m 8.912s / day
Inclination7.14911°
Longitude of ascending node154.580°
196.162°
Physical characteristics
Dimensions10.26 ± 0.07 km[2]
Mass(9.27 ± 3.09) × 1014 kg[2]
Mean density1.64 ± 0.10 g/cm3[2]
Rotation period15.4142 h (0.64226 d)
V
Absolute magnitude (H)12.2


809 Lundia is a small, binary, V-type asteroid[3] orbiting within the Flora family in the main belt. It is named after Lund Observatory, Sweden.

Characteristics

Lundia orbits within the Flora family. However, its V-type spectrum indicates that it is not genetically related to the Flora family, but rather is probably a fragment (two fragments, if its moon is included) ejected from the surface of 4 Vesta by a large impact in the past. Its orbit lies too far from Vesta for it to actually be a member of the Vesta family. It is not clear how it arrived at an orbit so far from Vesta, but other examples of V-type asteroids orbiting fairly far from their parent body are known. A mechanism of interplay between the Yarkovsky effect and nonlinear secular resonances (primarily involving Jupiter and Saturn) has been proposed.[4]

Binary system

Lightcurve observations in 2005 revealed that Lundia is a binary system of two similarly sized objects orbiting their common centre of gravity. "Lundia" now refers to one of the objects, the other being provisionally designated S/2005 (809) 1. The similarity of size between the two components is suspected because during mutual occultations the brightness drops by a similar amount independently of which component is hidden.[5] Due to the similar size of the primary and secondary the Minor Planet Center lists this as a binary companion.[6]

Assuming an albedo similar to 4 Vesta (around 0.4) suggests that the components are about 7 km across. They orbit each other in a period of 15.4 hours,[5] which roughly indicates that the separation between them is very close: to the order of 10–20 km if typical asteroid albedo and density values are assumed.

References

  1. "809 Lundia (1915 XP)". JPL Small-Body Database. NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory. https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=809;cad=1. 
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 Carry, B. (December 2012), "Density of asteroids", Planetary and Space Science 73: pp. 98–118, doi:10.1016/j.pss.2012.03.009, Bibcode2012P&SS...73...98C.  See Table 1.
  3. M. Florczak; D. Lazarro; R. Duffard (2002). "Discovering New V-Type Asteroids in the Vicinity of 4 Vesta". Icarus 159: 178–182. doi:10.1006/icar.2002.6913. Bibcode2002Icar..159..178F. 
  4. V. Carruba et al. (2005). "On the V-type asteroids outside the Vesta family". Astronomy & Astrophysics 441 (2): 819–829. doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20053355. Bibcode2005A&A...441..819C. 
  5. 5.0 5.1 Poznań observatory "Physical studies of asteroids at Poznan Observatory". http://www.astro.amu.edu.pl/Science/Asteroids/.  (Lightcurve showing signature of the binary)
  6. "Satellites and Companions of Minor Planets". IAU / Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams. http://www.cbat.eps.harvard.edu/minorsats.html. 

External links