.png) Lightcurve-based 3D-model ofDatura | |
| Discovery[1] | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | G. van Biesbroeck |
| Discovery site | Yerkes Obs. |
| Discovery date | 17 December 1930 |
| Designations | |
| (1270) Datura | |
| Pronunciation | /dəˈtʊərə,-tjʊərə/[2] |
Named after | Datura stramonium[3] (flowering plant) |
| 1930 YE · 1953 XF1 A913 VB | |
| main-belt[1][4] · (inner) Datura[5] | |
| Orbital characteristics[4] | |
| Epoch 23 March 2018 (JD 2458200.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 0 | |
| Observation arc | 87.43yr (31,934 d) |
| Aphelion | 2.7003AU |
| Perihelion | 1.7681 AU |
| 2.2342 AU | |
| Eccentricity | 0.2086 |
| 3.34 yr (1,220 d) | |
| 122.36° | |
| 0° 17m 42.36s / day | |
| Inclination | 5.9859° |
| 97.802° | |
| 258.98° | |
| Physical characteristics | |
| 7.83±0.37 km[6] 8.203±0.152 km[7][8] | |
| 3.359 h[9] | |
| 0.288[7][8] 0.291[6] | |
| S[9] | |
| 12.40[7][8] 12.50[1][4][6] 12.61±0.12[10][11] | |
1270 Datura, provisional designation1930 YE is a stonyasteroid and namesake of the youngDatura family, located in the inner regions of theasteroid belt, approximately 8 kilometers (5 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 17 December 1930, by Belgian–AmericanGeorge Van Biesbroeck at theYerkes Observatory in Williams Bay, Wisconsin, United States.[1] TheS-type asteroid has a rotation period of 3.4 hours.[12] It was named after the flowering plantDatura.[3]
Datura is the principal body of the tinyDatura family (411) located within theFlora family region (402),[5] which is one of the largestclans of asteroid families.[13] The Datura family is thought to have recently formed from the collisional destruction of a largerparent body some 450–600 thousand years ago.[9][14]
The asteroid orbits the Sun in theinner asteroid belt at a distance of 1.8–2.7 AU once every 3 years and 4 months (1,220 days;semi-major axis of 2.23 AU). Its orbit has aneccentricity of 0.21 and aninclination of 6° with respect to theecliptic.[4] In November 1913,Datura was first observed asA913 VB at Winchester Observatory (799) in Massachusetts, United States. The body'sobservation arc begins with its official discovery observation at Williams Bay in December 1930.[1]
Thisminor planet was named after theDatura, agenus of poisonousflowering plants.[3] The official naming citation was mentioned inThe Names of the Minor Planets byPaul Herget in 1955 (H 116).[3]
Datura's spectrum is similar to that of an oldS-type asteroid, thought to consist of silicate rocks covered with regolith with composition known fromordinary chondrite.[9] This is in agreement with the overallspectral type of both the Datura and the encompassing Flora family.[15]: 23
In February 2008, a rotationallightcurve ofDatura was obtained fromphotometric observations by Naruhisa Takato using theSubaru Telescope on Hawaii. Lightcurve analysis gave a siderealrotation period of3.359±0.001 hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.46magnitude (U=3).[9] The result is similar to observations by Wisniewski (3.2 h),[11] Vokrouhlický (3.3583 h),[14] and Székely (3.4 h).[16]
In 2013, lightcurve modelling by an international study using photometric data from theUS Naval Observatory, the Uppsala Asteroid Photometric Catalogue and thePalmer Divide Observatory, gave a concurring rotation period of 3.358100 hours as well as aspin axis of (0°, 59.0°) inecliptic coordinates (λ, β).[17] An improved spin-axis determination by Vokrouhlický gave two poles at (60.0°, 76.0°) and (264.0°, 77.0°), respectively.[14]
According to the surveys carried out by the JapaneseAkari satellite and theNEOWISE mission of NASA'sWide-field Infrared Survey Explorer,Datura measures 7.83 and 8.20 kilometers in diameter and its surface has analbedo of 0.291 and 0.288, respectively.[6][7][8] TheCollaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes an albedo of 0.24 – taken from8 Flora, the principal body of the Flora family – and derives a diameter of 8.15 kilometers based on anabsolute magnitude of 12.61.[12]
