| Discovery[1] | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | C. A. Wirtanen |
| Discovery site | Lick Obs. |
| Discovery date | 8 November 1950 |
| Designations | |
| (2044) Wirt | |
Named after | Carl Wirtanen (discoverer himself)[2] |
| 1950 VE | |
| Mars-crosser[1][3] · Phocaea[4][5] | |
| Orbital characteristics[1] | |
| Epoch 4 September 2017 (JD 2458000.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 0 | |
| Observation arc | 66.44 yr (24,269 days) |
| Aphelion | 3.1989AU |
| Perihelion | 1.5634 AU |
| 2.3812 AU | |
| Eccentricity | 0.3434 |
| 3.67yr (1,342 days) | |
| 53.286° | |
| 0° 16m 5.52s / day | |
| Inclination | 23.970° |
| 53.646° | |
| 50.474° | |
| Knownsatellites | 1[6][7] (⌀: 2 km;p: 19.0 h) |
| Earth MOID | 0.6559 AU |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Dimensions | 6.65 km (calculated)[4] 6.66±0.6 km (IRAS:2)[8] |
| 3.6895±0.0003h[9] 3.6898 h[10] 3.6900±0.0003 h[11] 3.690±0.00005 h[6] | |
| 0.1907±0.038 (IRAS:2)[8] 0.23 (assumed)[4] | |
| S[4] | |
| 12.838±0.002 (R)[9] · 13.1[1][4] · 13.3[8] | |
2044 Wirt, provisional designation1950 VE, is abinary[7] Phocaeaasteroid andMars-crosser, approximately 6.7 kilometers in diameter. Theminor-planet moon has an estimated diameter of 1.89 kilometer.
The asteroid was discovered on 8 November 1950, by American astronomerCarl Wirtanen atLick Observatory on Mount Hamilton, California, and later named after the discoverer himself.[3]
Wirt is both a member of the main-belt'sPhocaea family (701) and aMars-crossing asteroid, whose orbit crosses that ofMars.[1][3][4][5] It orbits the Sun in theinner main-belt at a distance of 1.6–3.2 AU once every 3 years and 8 months (1,342 days). Its orbit has aneccentricity of 0.34 and aninclination of 24° with respect to theecliptic.[1]
The asteroid'sobservation arc begins two weeks after its official discovery with the first recorded observation at Lick Observatory on 22 November 1950.[3]
Wirt has been characterized as a stonyS-type asteroid.[4]
Between 2005 and 2010, several rotationallightcurve were obtained for this asteroid from photometric observations taken by astronomersDonald Pray,Petr Pravec,Peter Kušnirák,Walter Cooney, Rui Goncalves andRaoul Behrend, as well as at thePalomar Transient Factory. The lightcurves gave a well-definedrotation period between 3.689 and 3.690 hours with a brightness variation between 0.12 and 0.26magnitude (U=n.a./3/3/3/3/2).[6][7][9][10][11]
During the photometric observations in December 2005, aminor-planet moon in orbit ofWirt was discovered. Thebinary asteroid has diameter ratio of 0.25, and the moon'sorbital period is 18.97 hours. It measures approximately 1.89 kilometer in diameter.[6][7][10]
According to the survey carried out by the Infrared Astronomical SatelliteIRAS, the asteroid measures 6.66 kilometers in diameter and its surface has analbedo of 0.19,[8] while theCollaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes an albedo of 0.23 and calculates a diameter of 6.65 kilometers with anabsolute magnitude of 13.1.[4]
It was named after American astronomerCarl Wirtanen (1910–1990), adiscoverer of minor planets andcomets, who was a long-time contributor ofastrometric observations at Lick Observatory. It is one of the rare cases where the asteroid had been named after its discoverer. Wirtanen is known for several surveys conducted at Lick Observatory such as theLick proper motion program with respect to galaxies and theShane-Wirtanen survey.[2] The official naming citation was published by the MPC on 1 January 1981 (M.P.C. 5688).[12]
