| Discovery[1] | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | Harvard College Obs. |
| Discovery site | Oak Ridge Obs. |
| Discovery date | 13 February 1980 |
| Designations | |
| (2658) Gingerich | |
Named after | Owen Gingerich[1] (Harvard astronomer) |
| 1980 CK · 1932 HH 1959 JO · 1975 JK | |
| main-belt[1][2] · (outer)[3] background[4] | |
| Orbital characteristics[2] | |
| Epoch 23 March 2018 (JD 2458200.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 0 | |
| Observation arc | 85.91yr (31,380 d) |
| Aphelion | 3.9552AU |
| Perihelion | 2.1785 AU |
| 3.0668 AU | |
| Eccentricity | 0.2897 |
| 5.37 yr (1,962 d) | |
| 15.809° | |
| 0° 11m 0.6s / day | |
| Inclination | 9.5017° |
| 214.03° | |
| 321.81° | |
| Knownsatellites | 1(suspected only)[3][5] |
| Physical characteristics | |
| 11.808±0.093 km[6][7] 13.24±0.53 km[8] 18.43 km(calculated)[3] | |
| 2.9392±0.0006 h[5] | |
| 0.057(assumed)[3] 0.111±0.010[8] 0.1389±0.0227[7] 0.139±0.023[6] | |
| C(assumed)[3] | |
| 12.40[2][3][7][8] 12.65±0.91[9] | |
2658 Gingerich, provisional designation1980 CK, is a backgroundasteroid and a suspected synchronousbinary system from the outer regions of theasteroid belt, approximately 13 kilometers (8 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 13 February 1980, by astronomers of theHarvard College Observatory at theGeorge R. Agassiz Station near Harvard, Massachusetts, in the United States. The presumed carbonaceousC-type asteroid has a shortrotation period of 2.9 hours. It was named after Harvard astronomerOwen Gingerich.[1][3]
Gingerich is a non-family asteroid from the main belt'sbackground population.[4] It orbits the Sun in theouter asteroid belt at a distance of 2.2–4.0 AU once every 5 years and 4 months (1,962 days;semi-major axis of 3.07 AU). Its orbit has aneccentricity of 0.29 and aninclination of 10° with respect to theecliptic.[2]
The asteroid was first observed as1932 HH atHeidelberg Observatory in April 1932. The body'sobservation arc begins with aprecovery taken atPalomar Observatory in July 1954, almost 26 years prior to its official discovery observation at Oak Ridge.[1]
Gingerich is an assumed carbonaceousC-type asteroid.[3]
In 2007, a rotationallightcurve ofGingerich was obtained fromphotometric observations by American astronomers at theCalvin-Rehoboth Robotic Observatory (G98) in New Mexico. Lightcurve analysis gave arotation period of 2.9392 hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.39magnitude (U=3).[5]
Two years earlier, the same group of astronomers had already observed this object and noted a dip in brightness on the first night of observation. From this, the astronomers suspect the presence of aminor-planet moon, as the depth and length of the decrease in brightness was typical for an eclipsing event seen among many other synchronousbinary asteroids. However, no orbital period for the satellite could be determined and its existence remains unconfirmed as of 2018.[5]
According to the surveys carried out by the JapaneseAkari satellite and theNEOWISE mission of NASA'sWide-field Infrared Survey Explorer,Gingerich measures between 11.808 and 13.24 kilometers in diameter and its surface has analbedo between 0.111 and 0.139.[6][7][8]
TheCollaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo for a carbonaceous asteroid of 0.057 and calculates a diameter of 18.43 kilometers based on anabsolute magnitude of 12.4.[3]
Thisminor planet was named afterOwen Gingerich (born 1930), professor of astronomy atHarvard University and an astrophysicist at theSmithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Gingerich is also a professor of history of science and has shaped the standards of scholarship for modern studies of the history of astronomy and astrophysics.[1] He has been a long-time active member of theInternational Astronomical Union and headed the commission on the History of Astronomy (Commission XLI) during the 1970s.[10] The official naming citation was published by theMinor Planet Center on 7 March 1985 (M.P.C. 9477).[11]
