_Olbersia.png) Modelled shape ofOlbersia from itslightcurve | |
| Discovery[1] | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | V. Albitzkij |
| Discovery site | Simeiz Obs. |
| Discovery date | 15 August 1923 |
| Designations | |
| (1002) Olbersia | |
Named after | Heinrich Olbers (German astronomer)[2] |
| 1923 OB · 1956 UR A923 PJ | |
| Orbital characteristics[3] | |
| Epoch 31 May 2020 (JD 2459000.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 0 | |
| Observation arc | 84.98yr (31,039 d) |
| Aphelion | 3.2177AU |
| Perihelion | 2.3543 AU |
| 2.7860 AU | |
| Eccentricity | 0.1549 |
| 4.65 yr (1,699 d) | |
| 276.82° | |
| 0° 12m 42.84s / day | |
| Inclination | 10.770° |
| 343.74° | |
| 355.29° | |
| Physical characteristics | |
| 10.244±0.005 h[9] | |
| C[10] | |
| 10.9[3][10][11][12] 11.1[7][8] | |
1002 Olbersia (prov. designation:A923 PJor1923 OB) is abackground asteroid from the central regions of theasteroid belt. It was discovered on 15 August 1923, by Russian astronomerVladimir Albitsky at theSimeiz Observatory on the Crimean peninsula.[1] The assumedC-type asteroid has arotation period of 10.2 hours and measures approximately 24 kilometers (15 miles) in diameter. It was named after German astronomerHeinrich Olbers (1758–1840).[2]
Olbersia is a non-family asteroid from the main belt'sbackground population.[5] It orbits the Sun in thecentral asteroid belt at a distance of 2.4–3.2 AU once every 4 years and 8 months (1,699 days;semi-major axis of 2.79 AU). Its orbit has aneccentricity of 0.15 and aninclination of 11° with respect to theecliptic.[3] The asteroid'sobservation arc begins atUccle Observatory in 1935, twelve years after its official discovery observation at Simeiz.[1]
Thisminor planet was named afterHeinrich Olbers (1758–1840), a physician and amateur astronomer from Bremen in northern Germany. He discovered the main-belt asteroids2 Pallas and4 Vesta as well as sixcomets, and was the first to compute the orbit of comets with a certain degree of accuracy.Olbers' paradox is named after him, as is the lunar craterOlbers. The official naming citation was published byPaul Herget inThe Names of the Minor Planets in 1955 (H 96).[2]
1001 Gaussia was named as part of trio honoring the events surrounding the discovery of Ceres in 1801.[13] Carl Friedrich Gauss who computed the orbit of Ceres had1001 Gaussia named for him,1000 Piazzia for Giuseppe Piazzi (who had discovered Ceres) and finally 1002 Olbersia for Olbers.[13] Olbers recovered Ceres after it has passed behind the Sun and returned.[13] In the next few years only three more astronomical bodies were found between Mars and Jupiter,Pallas,Juno, and4 Vesta, and it would be 37 years before another asteroid was found,5 Astraea in 1845.[13] Olbers discovered Pallas and Vesta also.[14] No asteroids were found in 1846, planetNeptune was, but after that more asteroids were found every year including over 300 by the 1890s, when the advent of astronomical photography further increased the rate of discovery in coming decades. In the years between 1845 and 1891, 6.9 minor planets were discovered each year, but the rate went to 24.8 from 1891 to 1931.[13] In that time an additional 1191 asteroids were discovered, and the number of numbered minor planets reached well over 1000.[13] The 1000th asteroid was approved in 1921, and the ten thousandth in 1989.
Olbersia is an assumedC-type asteroid.[10] This is one of the common asteroid types, as of the late 1980s, 75% of knownasteroids.[15]
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In October 2007, a rotationallightcurve ofOlbersia was obtained fromphotometric observations by French amateur astronomerPierre Antonini. Lightcurve analysis gave a well-definedrotation period of10.244±0.005 hours with a brightness variation of 0.38magnitude (U=3).[9]
In 2011, a modeled lightcurve using data from the Uppsala Asteroid Photometric Catalogue (UAPC) and other sources gave a concurring period 10.2367 hours, as well as two spin axis of (220.0°, 35.0°) and (16.0°, 54.0°) inecliptic coordinates (λ, β) (Q=2).[16]
According to the surveys carried out by the Infrared Astronomical SatelliteIRAS, the JapaneseAkari satellite, and NASA'sWide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequentNEOWISE mission,Olbersia measures between 22.938 and 32.13 kilometers in diameter and its surface has analbedo between 0.0621 and 0.147.[6][7][11][8] TheCollaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link derives an albedo of 0.0743 and a diameter of 32.21 kilometers based on anabsolute magnitude of 10.9.[10]
