| Discovery[1] | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | C. J. van Houten I. van Houten-G. T. Gehrels |
| Discovery site | Palomar Obs. |
| Discovery date | 17 October 1960 |
| Designations | |
| (10249) Harz | |
Named after | Harz[1] (German mountain range) |
| 9515 P-L · 1985 TY | |
| main-belt[1][2] · (middle) background[3] | |
| Orbital characteristics[2] | |
| Epoch 23 March 2018 (JD 2458200.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 0 | |
| Observation arc | 55.64yr (20,323 d) |
| Aphelion | 2.8174AU |
| Perihelion | 2.3354 AU |
| 2.5764 AU | |
| Eccentricity | 0.0935 |
| 4.14 yr (1,510 d) | |
| 291.52° | |
| 0° 14m 17.88s / day | |
| Inclination | 3.6347° |
| 51.878° | |
| 342.89° | |
| Physical characteristics | |
| 3.15 km(calculated)[4] 3.59±0.26 km[5] | |
| 3.631±0.0006 h[6] 3.64±0.01 h[7] | |
| 0.20(assumed)[4] 0.261±0.070[5] | |
| S(assumed)[4] | |
| 14.30[5] 14.4[2] 14.41±0.17(R)[7] 14.426±0.003(R)[6] 14.82±0.25[8] 14.88[4] | |
10249 Harz, provisional designation9515 P-L, is a backgroundasteroid from the central regions of theasteroid belt, approximately 3.5 kilometers (2.2 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 17 October 1960, byIngrid andCornelis van Houten at Leiden, andTom Gehrels atPalomar Observatory in California, United States.[1] The assumedS-type asteroid is likely elongated and has a shortrotation period of 3.63 hours.[4] It was named after the German mountain rangeHarz.[1]
Harz is a non-family asteroid from the main belt'sbackground population.[3] It orbits the Sun in thecentral main-belt at a distance of 2.3–2.8 AU once every 4 years and 2 months (1,510 days;semi-major axis of 2.58 AU). Its orbit has aneccentricity of 0.09 and aninclination of 4° with respect to theecliptic.[2] The body'sobservation arc begins with its official discovery observation at Palomar in October 1960.[1]
Thesurvey designation "P-L" stands forPalomar–Leiden, named after Palomar Observatory andLeiden Observatory, which collaborated on the fruitfulPalomar–Leiden survey in the 1960s. Gehrels used Palomar'sSamuel Oschin telescope (also known as the 48-inch Schmidt Telescope), and shipped thephotographic plates to Ingrid and Cornelis van Houten at Leiden Observatory whereastrometry was carried out. The trio are credited with the discovery ofseveral thousand asteroid discoveries.[9]
Harz is an assumedS-type asteroid, which agrees with the measuredalbedo (see below) by theWide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE).[4]
In October 2010, and December 2014, two rotationallightcurves ofHarz were obtained fromphotometric observations in the R-band by astronomers at thePalomar Transient Factory in California.[6][7] Lightcurve analysis gave arotation period of 3.631 and 3.64 hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.47 and 0.52magnitude, respectively, indicating that the body has an elongated shape (U=2/2).[4]
According to the survey carried out by theNEOWISE mission of NASA's WISE telescope,Harz measures between 3.59 kilometers in diameter and its surface has analbedo of 0.26,[5] while theCollaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo for stony asteroids of 0.20 and calculates a diameter of 3.15 kilometers based on anabsolute magnitude of 14.88.[4]
Thisminor planet was named after theHarz mountains, an old German mountain range where silver was mined until the last century. Legend has it that the witches gathered on their broomsticks on a plateau in the Harz mountains on the first day of May. The legendary place where the witches danced is known asHexentanzplatz.[1] The official naming citation was published by theMinor Planet Center on 1 May 2003 (M.P.C. 48390).[10]
