| Discovery[1] | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | Y. Väisälä |
| Discovery site | Turku Obs. |
| Discovery date | 16 January 1944 |
| Designations | |
| (3037) Alku | |
Named after | Alku(a boat's name)[2] |
| 1944 BA · 1979 BH | |
| main-belt · (middle)[3] | |
| Orbital characteristics[1] | |
| Epoch 4 September 2017 (JD 2458000.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 0 | |
| Observation arc | 72.87 yr (26,615 days) |
| Aphelion | 3.1798AU |
| Perihelion | 2.1670 AU |
| 2.6734 AU | |
| Eccentricity | 0.1894 |
| 4.37yr (1,597 days) | |
| 329.14° | |
| 0° 13m 31.8s / day | |
| Inclination | 19.022° |
| 107.80° | |
| 330.32° | |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Dimensions | 18.84 km(derived)[3] 18.91±0.8 km(IRAS:8)[4] 26.44±0.61 km[5] 29.289±0.302 km[6] 29.876±0.186[7] |
| 11.844±0.002h[8] | |
| 0.0343±0.0090[6] 0.044±0.008[7] 0.061±0.003[5] 0.0949(derived)[3] 0.1131±0.011(IRAS:8)[4] | |
| SMASS =C[1] · C[3] | |
| 11.6[4][5][6] · 11.8[1][3] | |
3037 Alku, provisional designation1944 BA, is a carbonaceousasteroid from the central region of theasteroid belt, approximately 20 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 17 January 1944, by Finnish astronomerYrjö Väisälä atTurku Observatory in Southwest Finland.[9]
TheC-type asteroid orbits the Sun in thecentral main-belt at a distance of 2.2–3.2 AU once every 4 years and 4 months (1,597 days). Its orbit has aneccentricity of 0.19 and aninclination of 19° with respect to theecliptic.[1] Noprecoveries were taken before its discovery.[9]
A rotationallightcurve for this asteroid was obtained fromphotometric measurements taken by American astronomer Brian Warner at the Palmer Divide Observatory, Colorado, in January 2005. The lightcurve gave a well-definedrotation period of11.844±0.002 hours with a brightness variation of 0.95 inmagnitude (U=3).[8]
According to the space-based surveys carried out by the Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS), the JapaneseAkari satellite, and theNEOWISE mission of NASA'sWide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, the asteroid measures between 18.9 and 29.9 kilometers in diameter and it has analbedo in the range of 0.03 to 0.11.[4][5][6][7] TheCollaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link agrees with the results obtained by IRAS, and derives an albedo of 0.09 with a diameter of 18.8 kilometers with anabsolute magnitude of 11.8.[3]
Thisminor planet was named after the sailing boatAlku ("the beginning" in Finnish). Built by his father, the discoverer used to sail it in his childhood, and it became the origin of his enduring passion for sailing.[2] The approved naming citation was published by theMinor Planet Center on 27 June 1991 (M.P.C. 18450).[10]
