Astronomy:9963 Sandage

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9963 Sandage
AnimatedOrbitOf9963Sandage.gif
Orbits of Sandage (blue), the inner planets (red) and Jupiter (outermost)
Discovery [1]
Discovered byE. F. Helin
Discovery sitePalomar Obs.
Discovery date9 January 1992
Designations
(9963) Sandage
Named afterAllan Sandage
(American astronomer)[2]
1992 AN · 1976 NH
1989 CK6
Minor planet categorymain-belt · Phocaea[3][4]
Orbital characteristics[1]
Epoch 4 September 2017 (JD 2458000.5)
Uncertainty parameter 0
Observation arc28.13 yr (10,276 days)
|{{{apsis}}}|helion}}2.9982 AU
|{{{apsis}}}|helion}}1.6833 AU
2.3408 AU
Eccentricity0.2809
Orbital period3.58 yr (1,308 days)
Mean anomaly132.58°
Mean motion0° 16m 30.72s / day
Inclination23.461°
Longitude of ascending node116.97°
241.14°
Physical characteristics
Dimensions5.45 km (calculated)[3]
6.371±0.174 km[5][6]
Rotation period4.6502±0.0008 h[7]
4.65053±0.00013 h[8]
Geometric albedo0.158±0.025[5][6]
0.23 (assumed)[3]
S[3]
Absolute magnitude (H)12.9[1] · 12.95±0.25[9] · 13.080±0.002 (R)[7] · 13.53[3] · 13.6[5]


9963 Sandage, provisional designation 1992 AN, is a stony Phocaea asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 6 kilometers in diameter.

It was discovered by American astronomer Eleanor Helin at the Palomar Observatory in California on 9 January 1992, and later named after American astronomer Allan Sandage.[2][10]

Orbit and classification

Sandage is a stony member of the Phocaea family (701),[4] a group of asteroids with similar orbital characteristics. It orbits the Sun in the inner main-belt at a distance of 1.7–3.0 AU once every 3 years and 7 months (1,308 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.28 and an inclination of 23° with respect to the ecliptic.[1] First identified as 1976 NH at Crimea–Nauchnij in 1976, the body's observation arc begins at the German Karl Schwarzschild Observatory in 1989, or 3 years prior to its official discovery observation at Palomar.[10]

Physical characteristics

Rotation period

Two rotational lightcurves of Sandage were obtained from photometric observations at the Palomar Transient Factory and at Texas Tech's Preston Gott Observatory in November 2011 and June 2016, respectively. Lightcurve analysis gave a rotation period of 4.65 hours with a high brightness variation of 0.56 and 0.43 in magnitude, respectively ({{{1}}}).[7][8]

Diameter and albedo

According to the survey carried out by the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, Sandage measures 6.4 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo of 0.16,[5] while the Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes an albedo of 0.23 – derived from the family's largest member and namesake, 25 Phocaea – and calculates a diameter of 5.5 kilometers with an absolute magnitude of 13.53.[3]

Naming

This minor planet was named after American astronomer Allan Sandage (1926–2010), a worldwide known expert on stellar astronomy and observational cosmology, who worked at Palomar and Mount Wilson Observatory.[2] Sandage determined the first reasonably accurate values for the Hubble constant and also discovered the first quasar. The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 2 September 2001 (M.P.C. 43381).[11]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 "JPL Small-Body Database Browser: 9963 Sandage (1992 AN)". Jet Propulsion Laboratory. https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=2009963. 
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 Schmadel, Lutz D. (2007). "(9963) Sandage". Dictionary of Minor Planet Names – (9963) Sandage. Springer Berlin Heidelberg. p. 715. doi:10.1007/978-3-540-29925-7_7773. ISBN 978-3-540-00238-3. 
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 "LCDB Data for (9963) Sandage". Asteroid Lightcurve Database (LCDB). http://www.minorplanet.info/PHP/generateOneAsteroidInfo.php?AstInfo=9963%7CSandage. 
  4. 4.0 4.1 "Asteroid 9963 Sandage – Nesvorny HCM Asteroid Families V3.0". Small Bodies Data Ferret. https://sbntools.psi.edu/ferret/SimpleSearch/results.action?targetName=9963+Sandage#Asteroid%209963%20SandageEAR-A-VARGBDET-5-NESVORNYFAM-V3.0. 
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Mainzer, A.; Grav, T.; Masiero, J.; Hand, E.; Bauer, J.; Tholen, D. et al. (November 2011). "NEOWISE Studies of Spectrophotometrically Classified Asteroids: Preliminary Results". The Astrophysical Journal 741 (2): 25. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/741/2/90. Bibcode2011ApJ...741...90M. http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/bib_query?bibcode=2011ApJ...741...90M. Retrieved 1 August 2016. 
  6. 6.0 6.1 Masiero, Joseph R.; Mainzer, A. K.; Grav, T.; Bauer, J. M.; Cutri, R. M.; Dailey, J. et al. (November 2011). "Main Belt Asteroids with WISE/NEOWISE. I. Preliminary Albedos and Diameters". The Astrophysical Journal 741 (2): 20. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/741/2/68. Bibcode2011ApJ...741...68M. http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/bib_query?bibcode=2011ApJ...741...68M. Retrieved 4 December 2016. 
  7. 7.0 7.1 7.2 Waszczak, Adam; Chang, Chan-Kao; Ofek, Eran O.; Laher, Russ; Masci, Frank; Levitan, David et al. (September 2015). "Asteroid Light Curves from the Palomar Transient Factory Survey: Rotation Periods and Phase Functions from Sparse Photometry". The Astronomical Journal 150 (3): 35. doi:10.1088/0004-6256/150/3/75. Bibcode2015AJ....150...75W. http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/bib_query?bibcode=2015AJ....150...75W. Retrieved 1 August 2016. 
  8. 8.0 8.1 Clark, Maurice (January 2016). "Asteroid Photometry from the Preston Gott Observatory". The Minor Planet Bulletin 43 (1): 2–5. ISSN 1052-8091. Bibcode2016MPBu...43....2C. http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/bib_query?bibcode=2016MPBu...43....2C. Retrieved 1 August 2016. 
  9. Veres, Peter; Jedicke, Robert; Fitzsimmons, Alan; Denneau, Larry; Granvik, Mikael; Bolin, Bryce et al. (November 2015). "Absolute magnitudes and slope parameters for 250,000 asteroids observed by Pan-STARRS PS1 - Preliminary results". Icarus 261: 34–47. doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2015.08.007. Bibcode2015Icar..261...34V. http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/bib_query?bibcode=2015Icar..261...34V. Retrieved 1 August 2016. 
  10. 10.0 10.1 "9963 Sandage (1992 AN)". Minor Planet Center. https://www.minorplanetcenter.net/db_search/show_object?object_id=9963. 
  11. "MPC/MPO/MPS Archive". Minor Planet Center. https://www.minorplanetcenter.net/iau/ECS/MPCArchive/MPCArchive_TBL.html. 

External links