| Discovery[1] | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | L. G. Taff |
| Discovery site | Lincoln Laboratory ETS |
| Discovery date | 24 December 1981 |
| Designations | |
| (4324) Bickel | |
Named after | Wolf Bickel (amateur astronomer)[2] |
| 1981 YA1 · 1932 UD 1932 WE · 1948 SD 1948 TK2 · 1964 PE 1966 DC · 1972 NF 1973 YR3 · 1985 XX A924 YC | |
| main-belt · (middle) | |
| Orbital characteristics[1] | |
| Epoch 4 September 2017 (JD 2458000.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 0 | |
| Observation arc | 92.44 yr (33,765 days) |
| Aphelion | 3.0537AU |
| Perihelion | 2.0373 AU |
| 2.5455 AU | |
| Eccentricity | 0.1996 |
| 4.06yr (1,483 days) | |
| 320.50° | |
| 0° 14m 33.72s / day | |
| Inclination | 7.7760° |
| 292.79° | |
| 108.71° | |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Dimensions | 11.65±0.56 km[3] 12.39 km(calculated)[4] |
| 16h[5] 26.5 h[6] 26.592±0.003 h[5] | |
| 0.20(assumed)[4] 0.248±0.020[3] | |
| S[4] | |
| 11.80[3] · 11.9[1][4] · 12.37±0.29[7] | |
4324 Bickel, provisional designation1981 YA1, is a stonyasteroid from the middle region of theasteroid belt, approximately 12 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 24 December 1981, by American astronomer Laurence Taff atLincoln Laboratory's Experimental Test Site in Socorro, New Mexico, United States. The asteroid was named after amateur astronomerWolf Bickel.[2]
Bickel orbits the Sun in thecentral main-belt at a distance of 2.0–3.1 AU once every 4 years and 1 month (1,483 days). Its orbit has aneccentricity of 0.20 and aninclination of 8° with respect to theecliptic.[1] It was first identified asA924 YC atHeidelberg Observatory in 1924, extending the body'sobservation arc by 57 years prior to its official discovery observation at Socorro.[2]
Bickel has been characterized as a commonS-type asteroid.[4]
In September 2001, the first ever conducted photometric observation ofBickel at theRozhen Observatory, Bulgaria, rendered a rotationallightcurve with a longer-than-averageperiod of26.5 hours and a brightness variation of 0.63magnitude (U=2).[6] A more refined lightcurve was obtained in October 2005, by astronomers Raymond Poncy,Laurent Bernasconi and Rui Goncalves, which gave a well-defined period of26.592±0.003 hours with an amplitude of 0.72 magnitude (U=3).[5]
According to observations by NASA's space-basedWide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequentNEOWISE mission,Bickel measures 11.7 kilometers in diameter and its surface has analbedo of 0.248,[3] while theCollaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo for stony asteroids of 0.20 and calculates a slightly larger diameter of 12.4 kilometers with anabsolute magnitude of 11.9.[4]
Thisminor planet was named in honor of German amateur astronomerWolf Bickel (born 1942) who began observing minor planets at his privateBergisch Gladbach Observatory in 1995.[2]
At the time this minor planet was named, he had discovered more than 540 numbered minor planets.[2] The official naming citation was published by theMinor Planet Center on 22 July 2013 (M.P.C. 84378).[8] Bickel has become Germany's most prolific discoverer of asteroids, ahead of (professional) astronomerFreimut Börngen, the first time in 150 years, that an amateur astronomer is ranking first among the German top discoverers.[9] His total number of discoveries has since increased to more than 600.[10]
