| Discovery[1] | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | E. Bowell |
| Discovery site | Anderson Mesa Stn. |
| Discovery date | 5 April 1981 |
| Designations | |
| (6170) Levasseur | |
Named after | Anny-Chantal Levasseur-Regourd[1] (French planetary scientist) |
| 1981 GP · 1983 TL2 1988 FA | |
| Mars-crosser[1][2][3] Phocea[4] | |
| Orbital characteristics[2] | |
| Epoch 27 April 2019 (JD 2458600.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 0 | |
| Observation arc | 63.93yr (23,349 d) |
| Aphelion | 3.1029AU |
| Perihelion | 1.5996 AU |
| 2.3512 AU | |
| Eccentricity | 0.3197 |
| 3.61 yr (1,317 d) | |
| 240.28° | |
| 0° 16m 24.24s / day | |
| Inclination | 22.580° |
| 11.773° | |
| 103.77° | |
| Earth MOID | 0.755 AU (294LD) |
| Physical characteristics | |
| 5.68±0.57 km[5] | |
| 2.6529±0.0003 h[6][a] | |
| 0.239[5] | |
| S[3][7] | |
| 13.00[7] 13.40[1][2][3][5] | |
6170 Levasseur, provisional designation1981 GP, is a stony Phocaeanasteroid and sizableMars-crosser on an eccentric orbit from the inner regions of theasteroid belt, approximately 5.7 kilometers (3.5 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 5 April 1981, by American astronomerEdward Bowell at theAnderson Mesa Station in Arizona.[1] TheS-type asteroid has a shortrotation period of 2.65 hours.[3] It was named for French planetary scientistAnny-Chantal Levasseur-Regourd.[1]
Levasseur is a member of theMars-crossing asteroids, a dynamically unstablegroup between themain belt and thenear-Earth populations, crossing the orbit ofMars at 1.66 AU.[1] The asteroid has also been identified as a member of thePhocaea family (701) – an old, stony main-belt family with nearly 2000 known members – when applying theHCM algorithms to itsproper orbital elements.[4][8]: 23
It orbits the Sun in theinner asteroid belt at a distance of 1.6–3.1 AU once every 3 years and 7 months (1,317 days;semi-major axis of 2.35 AU). Its orbit has a veryeccentricity of 0.32 and aninclination of 23° with respect to theecliptic.[2] The body'sobservation arc begins with aprecovery taken atPalomar Observatory in September 1954, more than 26 years prior to its official discovery observation atLowell Observatory'sAnderson Mesa Station in April 1981.[1]
Thisminor planet was named after Anny-Chantal Levasseur-Regourd (born 1945), a Frenchplanetary scientist and former astronaut candidate. She has been professor atUPMC in Paris and works at theFrench National Center for Scientific Research, CNRS. Her research includescomets, theinterplanetary medium andinterplanetary dust. She has also been a principal investigator when theGiotto spacecraft visitedComet Halley in 1986.[1] The officialnaming citation was published by theMinor Planet Center on 1 July 1996 (M.P.C. 27461).[9]
Levasseur is a common, stonyS-type asteroid,[3][7] in line with thePhocaea family's overallspectral type.[8]: 23
In December 2005, a rotationallightcurve ofLevasseur was obtained fromphotometric observations byDonald Pray at the Carbuncle Hill Observatory (912) in collaboration with other European and American observers. Lightcurve analysis gave arotation period of2.6529±0.0003 hours with a brightness variation of0.14±0.02magnitude (U=3).[6][a]
In April 2010, two nearly identical periods were found byDavid Higgins at the Hunters Hill Observatory (E14) in Australia and byPetr Pravec and collaborators at theOndřejov Observatory in the Czech Republic. Their analysis gave a period of2.6528±0.0004 and2.6531±0.0002 hours with an amplitude of 0.13 and 0.09, respectively (U=2/3).[10][a][b] While not being afast rotator,Levasseur's rotation is near the cohesionless spin-barrier of 2.2 hours.
According to a dedicated survey of Mars-crossing asteroids carried out by theNEOWISE mission of NASA'sWide-field Infrared Survey Explorer,Levasseur measures 5.68 kilometers in diameter and its surface has analbedo of 0.239.[5] TheCollaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard for a stony asteroid of 0.20 and calculates a diameter of 6.21 kilometers based on anabsolute magnitude of 13.4.[3]
With a diameter of 5.68 kilometers,Levasseur is still one of the smaller "sizable" Mars-crossers (5–15 km). These include3581 Alvarez (13.69 km)1065 Amundsenia (9.75 km),1139 Atami (9.35 km),3737 Beckman (14.36 km),1474 Beira (15.46 km),5682 Beresford (7.33 km),1011 Laodamia (7.39 km),1727 Mette (5.44 km),1131 Porzia (7.13 km),1235 Schorria (5.55 km),985 Rosina (8.18 km),1310 Villigera (15.24 km), and1468 Zomba (7 km), which are smaller than the largest members of this dynamical group, namely,132 Aethra,323 Brucia (former Mars-crosser),1508 Kemi,2204 Lyyli and512 Taurinensis, all larger than 20 kilometers.
