| Discovery[1] | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | K. Reinmuth |
| Discovery site | Heidelberg Obs. |
| Discovery date | 5 February 1929 |
| Designations | |
| (1346) Gotha | |
Named after | Gotha[2] (German city inThuringia) |
| 1929 CY · 1931 RC1 1948 PL1 · 1952 OC | |
| main-belt · (middle)[3] background[4] · Eunomia[5] | |
| Orbital characteristics[6] | |
| Epoch 27 April 2019 (JD 2458600.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 0 | |
| Observation arc | 90.53yr (33,065 d) |
| Aphelion | 3.0948AU |
| Perihelion | 2.1599 AU |
| 2.6274 AU | |
| Eccentricity | 0.1779 |
| 4.26 yr (1,556 d) | |
| 147.30° | |
| 0° 13m 53.04s / day | |
| Inclination | 13.849° |
| 166.12° | |
| 250.00° | |
| Physical characteristics | |
| 13.731±0.120 km[7] 13.747±0.325 km[8] | |
| 2.64067±0.00002 h[3][9] | |
| 0.278±0.009[7] 0.2794±0.0411[8] | |
| S(est.)[3][10] B–V = 0.840[6] | |
| 11.25[6] 11.32[3][8][10] 11.4[1] | |
1346 Gotha, provisional designation1929 CY, is a stony backgroundasteroid from the central regions of theasteroid belt, approximately 14 kilometers (8.7 mi) in diameter. It was discovered on 5 February 1929, by astronomerKarl Reinmuth at theHeidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory in southwest Germany.[1] The presumedS-type asteroid has a shortrotation period of 2.6 hours.[3] It was named for the German city ofGotha, located inThuringia.[2]
Based on thehierarchical clustering method,Gotha is a non-family asteroid of the main belt'sbackground population (Nesvorny),[4] but it has also been considered a core member of theEunomia family by Novakovic, Knezevic and Milani.[5] It orbits the Sun in thecentral main-belt at a distance of 2.2–3.1 AU once every 4 years and 3 months (1,556 days;semi-major axis of 2.63 AU). Its orbit has aneccentricity of 0.18 and aninclination of 14° with respect to theecliptic.[6] The body'sobservation arc begins with its official discovery observation at Heidelberg in 1929.[1]
Thisminor planet was named after the city ofGotha, located nearErfurt capital of the Free State ofThuringia, Germany. The asteroids1254 Erfordia and934 Thüringia are also named after these places. The city is known for itsGotha Observatory and the work of astronomerFranz Xaver von Zach (1754–1832), who recovered the dwarf planetCeres and after whom999 Zachia was named. The officialnaming citation was mentioned inThe Names of the Minor Planets byPaul Herget in 1955 (H 122).[2]
Gotha has been estimated to be a stonyS-type asteroid.[3][10]
Several rotationallightcurves ofGotha have been obtained from photometric observations since 1984.[3][9][10][11][12] Lightcurve analysis gave a consolidatedrotation period of 2.64067 hours with a brightness variation between 0.10 and 0.16magnitude (U=3-).[3]
According to the survey carried out by theNEOWISE mission of NASA'sWide-field Infrared Survey Explorer,Gotha measures between 13.731 and 13.747 kilometers in diameter and its surface has analbedo between 0.278 and 0.2794.[7][8] TheCollaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo for stony asteroids of 0.20 and derives a diameter of 16.18 kilometers based on anabsolute magnitude of 11.32.[3]
