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(7102) NEILBONE = 1936 NB
The following citation honouring MeteorSection director, Neil Bone was published by theMinorPlanetCenter inFebruary:
Discovered in 1936July 12 by C. Jackson atJohannesburg. Neil Bone (b. 1959), a Britishobserver and author of several books, founded the Aurora Section of what is nowthe Society for Popular Astronomy in 1981 and became director of the BritishAstronomical Association's Meteor Section in 1992. He also compiles the"Society News" notes for Astronomy Now.
The observational circumstances of the original discoveryare particularly interesting in that the asteroid was found by Yorkshire-bornprofessional astronomer, Cyril Jackson working at the Union Observatory,Johannesburg. At the time of discovery, the minor planet wasjust 4 days ahead of an especially favourable close approach to the Earth(Delta = 1.296 AU) when it reached magnitude 14.3. Jackson was able to photograph the object onfive nights spread over twolunations and reported itas being of magnitude 13, but then it was ‘lost’ for some 49 years before beingrecovered on 1985 July 17 fromKlet Observatory inthe Czech Republic.
The characteristics of(7102)Neilboneare very unusual for a main-belt asteroid in that its orbit is quite eccentric(e = 0.253) (no reflection on Neil, I might add!) and it is inclined almost 19degrees to the ecliptic (i = 18.66 deg). This means the object spends the majority ofits time in the outer region of the Main Belt (aphelion distance = 3.864 AU)before passing through perihelion at 2.305 AU once every 5.42 years. The nearest possible approach to the Earth is1.292 AU whereas near aphelion it can be almost 5.0 AU distant. Without knowing its reflectivity oralbedo, it is difficult to estimate its physical size,which may be in the range 10-30 km.
![7102Neilbone_Arbour_2009Feb21.jpg]()
The object’s rotational characteristics are not known atpresent but the accompanying images made byARPSmember,Ron Arbour clearly show a significantdimming possibly amounting to more than 0.5 magnitudes over an interval of 44minutes indicative of it being fairly elongated and quite a fast rotator.
I was delighted to hear the news that Neil’s contribution toastronomy has been recognised by way of alow-numbered minor planet being named in his honour: very well-deserved indeed.
Richard Miles, Director
2009 March 8
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