| Discovery[1] | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | Y. Väisälä |
| Discovery site | Turku Obs. |
| Discovery date | 19 February 1938 |
| Designations | |
| (3212) Agricola | |
| Pronunciation | /əˈɡrɪkələ/[2] |
Named after | Mikael Agricola(reformer)[3] |
| 1938 DH2 · 1982 BB2 | |
| main-belt · Flora[4] | |
| Orbital characteristics[1] | |
| Epoch 4 September 2017 (JD 2458000.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 0 | |
| Observation arc | 78.37 yr (28,626 days) |
| Aphelion | 2.5980AU |
| Perihelion | 1.9148 AU |
| 2.2564 AU | |
| Eccentricity | 0.1514 |
| 3.39yr (1,238 days) | |
| 180.14° | |
| 0° 17m 26.88s / day | |
| Inclination | 7.8102° |
| 109.97° | |
| 35.064° | |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Dimensions | 4.442±0.287 km[5][6] 5.41 km(calculated)[4] |
| 9h[a] | |
| 0.24(assumed)[4] 0.391±0.070[5][6] | |
| S[4] | |
| 13.6[1] · 13.4[5] · 13.38±0.52[7] · 13.5[4] | |
3212 Agricola, provisional designation1938 DH2, is a stony Floraasteroid from the inner regions of theasteroid belt, approximately 5 km (3.1 miles) in diameter. It was discovered by Finnish astronomerYrjö Väisälä atTurku Observatory in Southwest Finland, on 19 February 1938, and named after reformerMikael Agricola.[8]
TheS-type asteroid is a member of theFlora family, one of the largest groups of stony asteroids in the main-belt. It orbits the Sun in theinner main-belt at a distance of 1.9–2.6 AU once every 3 years and 5 months (1,238 days). Its orbit has aneccentricity of 0.15 and aninclination of 8° with respect to theecliptic.[1]
A rotationallightcurve obtained from photometric observations by Czech astronomerPetr Pravec in May 2006, rendered aperiod of 9 hours with a brightness variation of 0.07 inmagnitude (U=n/a).[a] According to the survey carried out by theNEOWISE mission of NASA's space-basedWide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, the asteroid measures 4.4 km (2.7 miles) in diameter, and its surface has a highalbedo of 0.39,[5][6] while theCollaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes an intermediate albedo of 0.24 – derived from8 Flora, the largest member and namesake of this orbital family – and calculates a larger diameter of 5.4 km (3.4 miles).[4]
Thisminor planet was named in honor of Finnish clergymanMikael Agricola (c. 1510–1557), bishop andreformer of Finland, often called "father of Finnish literature". He published hisAbckiria, the first book printed in the Finnish language, and translated the New Testament into Finnish.[3] The official naming citation was published by theMinor Planet Center on 27 June 1991 (M.P.C. 18450).[9]
