| Discovery[1] | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | Y. Väisälä |
| Discovery site | Turku Obs. |
| Discovery date | 23 February 1936 |
| Designations | |
| (2067) Aksnes | |
Named after | Kaare Aksnes (Norwegian astronomer)[2] |
| 1936 DD · 1951 AG 1965 UV · 1971 QH2 1973 UR2 · 1975 BD1 | |
| main-belt · Hilda[3] | |
| Orbital characteristics[1] | |
| Epoch 4 September 2017 (JD 2458000.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 0 | |
| Observation arc | 81.03 yr (29,596 days) |
| Aphelion | 4.6834AU |
| Perihelion | 3.2440 AU |
| 3.9637 AU | |
| Eccentricity | 0.1816 |
| 7.89yr (2,882 days) | |
| 191.29° | |
| 0° 7m 29.64s / day | |
| Inclination | 3.0798° |
| 150.24° | |
| 297.33° | |
| Jupiter MOID | 0.5866 AU |
| TJupiter | 3.0270 |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Dimensions | 42.53 km(derived)[3] 42.59±2.0 km(IRAS:4)[4] 46.003±0.761 km[1][5] 49.26±1.96 km[6] |
| 17.75h[7] | |
| 0.049±0.004[6] 0.05±0.01[3][5] 0.054±0.003[1][5] 0.0562(derived)[3] 0.0626±0.006(IRAS:4)[4] | |
| Tholen =P[1] · P[3] · D[5] B–V = 0.658[1] U–B = 0.240[1] | |
| 10.48[6] · 10.48(IRAS:4)[1][4] · 10.55±0.24[8] · 10.60[3][7] | |
2067 Aksnes, provisional designation1936 DD, is a rare-type Hildianasteroid from the outermost region of theasteroid belt, approximately 44 kilometers in diameter. The asteroid was discovered on 23 February 1936, by Finnish astronomerYrjö Väisälä atTurku Observatory in Southwest Finland.[9] It was named after astronomerKaare Aksnes.[2]
Aksnes is a member of theHilda family, theoutermost orbital group of asteroids in the main-belt, that are thought to have originated from theKuiper belt. It orbits the Sun at a distance of 3.2–4.7 AU once every 7 years and 11 months (2,882 days). Its orbit has aneccentricity of 0.18 and aninclination of 3° with respect to theecliptic.[1]
The asteroid'sobservation arc begins on its discovery night at Turku, the first used observation.[9] As all Hildian asteroids orbit in a 3:2orbital resonance with the gas giantJupiter, meaning that for every 2 orbits Jupiter completes around the Sun, they will complete 3 orbits,[1] this asteroid's orbit does not cross the path of any of the planets and therefore it will not be pulled out of orbit by Jupiter's gravitational field. As a result of this, it is likely that the asteroid will remain in a stable orbit for thousands of years.
The dark and reddish asteroid is characterized as a rareP-type andD-type asteroid in theTholen classification and by theNEOWISE mission, respectively.[5] Of either type only a few dozens bodies are currently known to exist in the Tholen and SMASS taxonomy.[10][11]
During a photometric survey of Hildian asteroids in the 1990s, a rotationallightcurve was obtained ofAksnes by Swedish, German and Italian observatories . The lightcurve gave arotation period of17.75 hours with a brightness variation of 0.24 inmagnitude (U=2).[7]
According to the surveys carried out by the Infrared Astronomical SatelliteIRAS, the JapaneseAkari satellite, and NASA'sWide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent NEOWISE mission,Aksnes measures between 42.5 and 49.3 kilometers in diameter and its surface has a lowalbedo between 0.049 and 0.063.[1][4][5][6] TheCollaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link derives an albedo of 0.056 and a diameter of 42.5 kilometers with anabsolute magnitude of 10.6.[3]
Thisminor planet was named in honor of Norwegian astronomerKaare Aksnes (born 1938), acelestial mechanician who worked at theSmithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in the 1970s.[2]
Aksnes is known for his studies of artificial and natural satellites, in particular for his research on theGalilean satellites, the four largestmoons of Jupiter, namelyIo,Europa,Ganymede, andCallisto.[2] The officialnaming citation was published by theMinor Planet Center on 1 September 1978 (M.P.C. 4482).[12]
