.png) Lightcurve-based 3D-model ofAdams | |
| Discovery[1] | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | Indiana University (Indiana Asteroid Program) |
| Discovery site | Goethe Link Obs. |
| Discovery date | 16 October 1961 |
| Designations | |
| (1996) Adams | |
Named after | John Couch Adams (mathematician)[2] |
| 1961 UA · 1932 RM 1961 TB2 · 1969 TW2 1971 BY1 · 1973 SJ3 | |
| main-belt Eunomia[3] · Maria[4] | |
| Orbital characteristics[1] | |
| Epoch 4 September 2017 (JD 2458000.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 0 | |
| Observation arc | 55.66 yr (20,331 days) |
| Aphelion | 2.9123AU |
| Perihelion | 2.2058 AU |
| 2.5591 AU | |
| Eccentricity | 0.1380 |
| 4.09yr (1,495 days) | |
| 259.97° | |
| 0° 14m 26.88s / day | |
| Inclination | 15.132° |
| 1.0923° | |
| 355.05° | |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Dimensions | 10.12±0.41 km[5] 12.05±0.44 km[6] 12.417±0.158[7] 13.529±0.069 km[8] 13.88 km(calculated)[3] |
| 3.27±0.02h[9] 3.311±0.001 h[a] 3.31138±0.00006 h[10] 3.316±0.079 h[b] h 3.560 h[4] | |
| 0.1405±0.0118[8] 0.177±0.014[6] 0.183±0.053[7] 0.21(assumed)[3] 0.395±0.066[5] | |
| S[3] | |
| 11.6[1][3][5] · 11.06±0.14[11] · 12.1[6][8] | |
1996 Adams, provisional designation1961 UA, is a stony Eunomiaasteroid from the middle region of theasteroid belt, approximately 13 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 16 October 1961, by theIndiana Asteroid Program atGoethe Link Observatory near Brooklyn, Indiana, United States.[12] It was later named after mathematicianJohn Couch Adams.[2]
The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link (CALL) classifiesAdams as a member of theEunomia family, a large group of stonyS-type asteroid and the most prominent family in the intermediate main-belt. However, based on its concurring orbital elements, Alvarez-Candal from the Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, groups the asteroid into theMaria family, which is named after170 Maria(also see9175 Graun).[4]: 389
Adams orbits the Sun in thecentral main-belt at a distance of 2.2–2.9 AU once every 4 years and 1 month (1,495 days). Its orbit has aneccentricity of 0.14 and aninclination of 15° with respect to theecliptic.[1]Adams was first identified as1932 RM atJohannesburg Observatory. It first used observation was aprecovery made at the discovering observatory just ten days prior to the official discovery observation.[12]
Several rotationallightcurves ofAdams were obtained from photometric observations in 2010 and 2012. Best-rated lightcurve analysis gave arotation period of3.311 hours with a brightness variation between 0.40 and 0.46magnitude (U=3/3/3/3).[10][13][14][a] Additional photometric observations gave similar periods of 3.316, 3.27 and 3.560 hours with an amplitude of 0.60, 0.28 and 0.34, respectively (U=2+/1/3).[4][9][b]
According to the surveys carried out by the JapaneseAkari satellite and NASA'sWide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequentNEOWISE mission,Adams measures between 10.1 and 13.5 kilometers in diameter and its surface has analbedo between 0.141 and 0.395.[5][6][7][8] TheCollaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes an albedo of 0.21 – derived from15 Eunomia, the family's largest member and namesake – and calculates a diameter of 13.9 kilometers with anabsolute magnitude of 11.6.[3]
Thisminor planet was named afterJohn Couch Adams (1819–1892), British mathematician and astronomer, who predicted the existence and position ofNeptune, simultaneously with French mathematician Urbain Le Verrier,(also see1997 Leverrier). The lunar craterAdams is also named in his honour.[2] The officialnaming citation was published by theMinor Planet Center on 15 October 1977 (M.P.C. 4237).[15]
