| Discovery[1] | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | T. Smirnova |
| Discovery site | Crimean Astrophysical Obs. |
| Discovery date | 30 August 1970 |
| Designations | |
| (1977) Shura | |
Named after | Aleksandr Kosmodemyansky[2] (Hero of the Soviet Union) |
| 1970 QY · 1942 RW 1952 UT1 · 1968 DE | |
| main-belt · (middle) | |
| Orbital characteristics[1] | |
| Epoch 4 September 2017 (JD 2458000.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 0 | |
| Observation arc | 62.80 yr (22,936 days) |
| Aphelion | 2.9845AU |
| Perihelion | 2.5782 AU |
| 2.7814 AU | |
| Eccentricity | 0.0730 |
| 4.64yr (1,694 days) | |
| 120.99° | |
| 0° 12m 45s / day | |
| Inclination | 7.7643° |
| 332.26° | |
| 310.44° | |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Dimensions | 14.89 km(calculated)[3] 16.27±0.65 km[4] 17.211±0.117[5] 18.497±0.124 km[6] |
| 7.461±0.004h[7] | |
| 0.1311±0.0069[6] 0.150±0.028[5] 0.185±0.016[4] 0.20(assumed)[3] | |
| SMASS = Sq[1][8] C[9] · S[3] | |
| 11.40[4] · 11.5[1][3][6] · 11.64±0.30[9] | |
1977 Shura, provisional designation1970 QY, is a stonyasteroid from the middle region of theasteroid belt, approximately 16 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 30 August 1970, by Russian astronomerTamara Smirnova at theCrimean Astrophysical Observatory, Nauchnyj, on the Crimean peninsula.[10] The asteroid was named for SovietAleksandr Kosmodemyansky.[2]
Shura orbits the Sun in thecentral main-belt at a distance of 2.6–3.0 AU once every 4 years and 8 months (1,694 days). Its orbit has aneccentricity of 0.07 and aninclination of 8° with respect to theecliptic.[1]
The asteroid was first observed as1942 RW atTurku Observatory in 1942. The first used observation was aprecovery taken atGoethe Link Observatory in 1954, extending the body'sobservation arc by 16 years prior to its official discovery observation at Nauchnyj.[10]
A rotationallightcurve was obtained from photometric measurements made at the AustralianOakley Southern Sky Observatory in March 2010. It gave a well-definedrotation period of7.461±0.004 hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.34 inmagnitude (U=3).[7]
According to the space-based surveys carried out by the JapaneseAkari satellite and theNEOWISE mission of NASA'sWide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, the asteroid measures 16.3 and 18.5 kilometers in diameter, respectively, and its surface has a correspondingalbedo of 0.19 and 0.13.[4][6] TheCollaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link (CALL) assumes a standard albedo for stony asteroids of 0.20 and calculates a diameter of 14.9 kilometers.[3]
Between 2005 and 2022, 1977 Shura has been observed to occult three stars.
CALL characterizes Shura as a stonyS-type asteroid.[3] In theSMASS taxonomic scheme, it is classified as a transitional Sq-subtype to the elusiveQ-type asteroids of the main-belt.[1][8] Shura is also characterized as a carbonaceousC-type asteroid byPan-STARRS' photometric survey.[9]
Thisminor planet was named afterAleksandr Kosmodemyansky (1925–1945),Hero of the Soviet Union, who died at the age of 19 during theGerman-Soviet War, shortly after theBattle of Königsberg. "Shura" is a pet name for Aleksandr. The minor planets1793 Zoya and2072 Kosmodemyanskaya were named in honor of his sister and mother, respectively. The officialnaming citation was published by theMinor Planet Center on 30 June 1977 (M.P.C. 4190).[2][11]
