| Discovery [1] | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | Félix Aguilar Obs. |
| Discovery site | El Leoncito |
| Discovery date | 11 February 1977 |
| Designations | |
| (3578) Carestia | |
Named after | Reinaldo Carestia (South American astronomer)[2] |
| 1977 CC · 1939 PL 1950 LG · 1985 RY | |
| main-belt · (outer)[1] | |
| Orbital characteristics [1] | |
| Epoch 4 September 2017 (JD 2458000.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 0 | |
| Observation arc | 77.73 yr (28,391 days) |
| Aphelion | 3.8780AU |
| Perihelion | 2.5496 AU |
| 3.2138 AU | |
| Eccentricity | 0.2067 |
| 5.76yr (2,104 days) | |
| 220.68° | |
| 0° 10m 15.96s / day | |
| Inclination | 21.293° |
| 284.70° | |
| 47.939° | |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Dimensions | 42.882±0.066[3] 49.113±0.881 km[4] 57.80±2.3 km(IRAS:9)[5] 58.07±0.98 km[6] 59.29 km(derived)[7] 64.64±1.54 km[8] |
| 7.08h[9] 9.93±0.01 h[10] | |
| 0.0121±0.001(IRAS:9)[5] 0.020(derived)[7] 0.0292±0.0066[4] 0.039±0.012[8][3] 0.051±0.002[6] | |
| C [7] | |
| 10.08±0.59[11] · 10.10[6][8] · 10.3[1] · 11.0[4][7][9] · 11.60[5] | |
3578 Carestia, provisional designation1977 CC, is an extremely darkasteroid from the outer region of theasteroid belt, approximately 58 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 11 February 1977, by the staff of theFelix Aguilar Observatory atEl Leoncito Complex in San Juan, Argentina.[12] The asteroid was named after South American astronomerReinaldo Carestia.[2]
Carestia orbits the Sun in theouter main-belt at a distance of 2.5–3.9 AU once every 5 years and 9 months (2,104 days). Its orbit has aneccentricity of 0.21 and aninclination of 21° with respect to theecliptic.[1] The firstprecovery was taken atCrimea-Simeis in 1939, extending the asteroid'sobservation arc by 38 years prior to its discovery.[12]
The carbonaceousC-type asteroid is one of the darkest main-belt asteroids known.[1][7]
In September 2008, a rotationallightcurve was obtained from photometric observations made by Italian astronomer Federico Manzini at the Stazione Astronomica di Sozzago (A12), Italy. It rendered it arotation period of9.93±0.01 hours with a brightness variation of 0.13 inmagnitude (U=2).[10] Previously, a fragmentary lightcurve from the 1990s, gave a shorter period of 7.1 hours with an amplitude of 0.25 (U=1).[9]
According to the space-based surveys carried out by the Infrared Astronomical Satellite,IRAS, the JapaneseAkari satellite, and NASA'sWide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequentNEOWISE mission, the asteroid's surface has an exceptionally lowalbedo between 0.012 and 0.051. Combined with the observation's corresponding absolute magnitude, this results in an inferred diameter of 42.9 to 64.6 kilometers.[3][4][5][6][8] TheCollaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link derives an albedo of 0.02 and a diameter of 59.3 kilometers.[7]
Thisminor planet was named after of South American astronomer Reinaldo Augusto Carestia (1932–1993), professor ofpositional astronomy atUNSJ's School of Topography, publisher of 5star catalogs, and member of theNational Committee of Scientific and Technological Research of Chile. For decades, he worked with theRepsoldMeridian Circle at the discovering Felix Aguilar Observatory.[2] The official naming citation was published by theMinor Planet Center on 19 October 1994 (M.P.C. 24120).[13]
