_Virtanen.png) Shape ofVirtanen modelled from itslightcurve | |
| Discovery[1] | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | Y. Väisälä |
| Discovery site | Turku Obs. |
| Discovery date | 20 February 1938 |
| Designations | |
| (1449) Virtanen | |
Named after | Artturi Virtanen(biochemist)[2] |
| 1938 DO · 1928 DC | |
| main-belt · Flora[3] | |
| Orbital characteristics[1] | |
| Epoch 4 September 2017 (JD 2458000.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 0 | |
| Observation arc | 89.10 yr (32,543 days) |
| Aphelion | 2.5378AU |
| Perihelion | 1.9069 AU |
| 2.2223 AU | |
| Eccentricity | 0.1419 |
| 3.31yr (1,210 days) | |
| 289.08° | |
| 0° 17m 51s / day | |
| Inclination | 6.6413° |
| 110.78° | |
| 132.16° | |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Dimensions | 9.15±1.91 km[4] 9.263±0.098 km[5] 9.46±0.33 km[6] 9.947±0.092 km[7] 10.31 km(calculated)[3] |
| 14.770±0.440h(R)[8] 30.495±0.005 h[9] 30.5±0.5 h[10] 30.5005±0.0005 h[11] 30.5006±0.0001 h[12] 30.52±0.01 h[10] 30.5421±0.7655 h(R)[13] 30.5465±0.3727 h(S)[13] | |
| 0.24(assumed)[3] 0.285±0.038[6] 0.2856±0.0274[7] 0.36±0.15[4] | |
| Tholen =S[1] · S[3] | |
| 11.690±0.150(R)[8] · 11.779±0.003(R)[13] · 12.0[7] · 12.1[1][3][6] · 12.25[4] · 12.615±0.004(S)[13] · 13.21±0.09[14] | |
1449 Virtanen, provisional designation1938 DO, is a stony Florianasteroid from the inner regions of theasteroid belt, approximately 9.2 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 20 February 1938, by Finnish astronomerYrjö Väisälä atTurku Observatory in Southwest Finland,[15] and named for Finnish biochemistArtturi Virtanen.[2]
Virtanen is a member of theFlora family, one of the largest collisional populations of stony asteroids in the main-belt. It orbits the Sun in theinner main-belt at a distance of 1.9–2.5 AU once every 3 years and 4 months (1,210 days). Its orbit has aneccentricity of 0.14 and aninclination of 7° with respect to theecliptic.[1] In 1928,Virtanen was first identified as1928 DC atHeidelberg, extending the body'sobservation arc by 10 years prior to its official discovery at Turku.[15]
In theTholen taxonomy,Virtanen is classified as a commonS-type asteroid.[1]
Virtanen's first rotationallightcurve was obtained by astronomersPierre Antonini andSilvano Casulli in May 2007, followed by Australian astronomer Julian Oey at Leura (E17) and Kingsgrove Observatory (E19) in June 2008. The lightcurves gave arotation period of approximately 30.5 hours with a brightness variation of 0.6magnitude (U=2-/3-/3-).[9][10]
Additional periods were obtained from photometric observation in the R and S-band at thePalomar Transient Factory (U=2/2/2),[8][13] and from modeled data using the Lowell photometric database and other data sources, which also gave two spin axis of (307.0°, 58.0°) and (89.0°, 61.0°) inecliptic coordinates, respectively (U=n.a.).[11][12]
According to the survey carried out by NASA'sWide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequentNEOWISE mission,Virtanen measures between 9.15 and 9.947 kilometers in diameter, and its surface has analbedo between 0.285 and 0.36.[4][5][6][7]
TheCollaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes an albedo of 0.24 – derived from8 Flora, the largest member and namesake of its family – and calculates a diameter of 10.31 kilometers with anabsolute magnitude of 12.1.[3]
Thisminor planet was named for famous Finnish biochemistArtturi Virtanen (1895–1973), recipient of the 1945Nobel Prize in Chemistry and president of theAcademy of Finland for many years.[2] The officialnaming citation was published by theMinor Planet Center on 15 February 1970 (M.P.C. 3023).[16]
