Azalea is a member of theFlora family (402), a giantasteroid family and the largest family of stony asteroids in the main belt.[4][5][16]: 23 It orbits the Sun in theinner main belt at a distance of 1.8–2.6 AU once every 3 years and 4 months (1,216 days). Its orbit has aneccentricity of 0.18 and aninclination of 5° with respect to theecliptic.[1] The body'sobservation arc begins at Heidelberg in April 1928, more than 4 years after its official discovery observation.[15]
In 2004, two rotationallightcurves ofAzalea were obtained from photometric observations by a group of predominately Polish astronomers including Agnieszka Kryszczyńska, as well as by astronomersAlain Klotz andRaoul Behrend. Lightcurve analysis gave arotation period of 15.03 and 15.15 hours with a high brightness variation of 0.70 and 0.79magnitude, respectively (U=2/2).[12][13] The high brightness amplitude is typically indicative for a non-spheroidal shape.
In 2013, an international study modeled a lightcurve with a concurring period of 15.0276 hours and found twospin axis of (252.0°, 51.0°) and (64.0°, 41.0°) inecliptic coordinates (λ, β) (U=n.a.).[11]
TheCollaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes an albedo of 0.24 – derived from8 Flora, the largest member and namesake of the Flora family – and calculates a diameter of 12.40 kilometers based on anabsolute magnitude of 11.7.[4]
^abcdUsui, Fumihiko; Kuroda, Daisuke; Müller, Thomas G.; Hasegawa, Sunao; Ishiguro, Masateru; Ootsubo, Takafumi; et al. (October 2011). "Asteroid Catalog Using Akari: AKARI/IRC Mid-Infrared Asteroid Survey".Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan.63 (5):1117–1138.Bibcode:2011PASJ...63.1117U.doi:10.1093/pasj/63.5.1117. (online,AcuA catalog p. 153)