| Discovery[1] | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | Y. Väisälä |
| Discovery site | Turku Obs. |
| Discovery date | 6 February 1938 |
| Designations | |
| (1462) Zamenhof | |
Named after | L. L. Zamenhof[2] (creator ofEsperanto) |
| 1938 CA · 1963 TS 1964 VF2 · 1969 TU5 | |
| main-belt · (outer) Themis[3][4] | |
| Orbital characteristics[1] | |
| Epoch 4 September 2017 (JD 2458000.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 0 | |
| Observation arc | 53.72 yr (19,623 days) |
| Aphelion | 3.4958AU |
| Perihelion | 2.8032 AU |
| 3.1495 AU | |
| Eccentricity | 0.1100 |
| 5.59yr (2,042 days) | |
| 7.0433° | |
| 0° 10m 34.68s / day | |
| Inclination | 0.9657° |
| 24.810° | |
| 187.54° | |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Dimensions | 25.62 km(derived)[3] 25.91±0.55 km[5] 26.57±0.52 km[6] 27.366±0.166 km[7] 27.645±0.395 km[8] |
| 10.2±0.6h[9] 10.4±0.1 h[10] | |
| 0.087±0.015[5] 0.0891(derived)[3] 0.1108±0.0319[8] 0.121±0.005[6] | |
| C(assumed)[3] | |
| 10.80[6][8] · 11.20[1][3][5] · 11.31±0.32[11] | |
1462 Zamenhof, provisional designation1938 CA, is a carbonaceous Themistianasteroid from the outer regions of theasteroid belt, approximately 27 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 6 February 1938, by Finnish astronomerYrjö Väisälä at theIso-Heikkilä Observatory in Finland.[12] The asteroid was named afterL. L. Zamenhof, the creator ofEsperanto.[2] It is a recognizedZamenhof-Esperanto object.
Zamenhof is a Themistian asteroid that belongs to theThemis family (602),[4] a very largefamily of carbonaceous asteroids, named after24 Themis.[13]: 23 It orbits the Sun in theouter main-belt at a distance of 2.8–3.5 AU once every 5 years and 7 months (2,042 days). Its orbit has aneccentricity of 0.11 and aninclination of 1° with respect to theecliptic.[1] The body'sobservation arc begins at the discovering observatory, one month prior to its official discovery observation.[12]
The Lightcurve Data Base assumesZamenhof to be a common, carbonaceousC-type asteroid,[3] in agreement with the overallspectral type of the Themis family.[13]: 23
Two rotationallightcurves ofZamenhof were obtained from photometric observations in 2006 and 2011. Lightcurve analysis gave arotation period of 10.2 and 10.4 hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.15 and 0.30magnitude, respectively (U=2/2).[9][10]
According to the surveys carried out by the JapaneseAkari satellite and theNEOWISE mission of NASA'sWide-field Infrared Survey Explorer,Zamenhof measures between 25.91 and 27.645 kilometers in diameter and its surface has analbedo between 0.087 and 0.121.[5][6][7][8]
TheCollaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link derives an albedo of 0.0891 and a diameter of 25.62 kilometers based on anabsolute magnitude of 11.2.[3]
Thisminor planet was named afterL. L. Zamenhof (1859–1917), a Polish-Jewishophthalmologist and creator ofEsperanto, aconstructed international language.[2] This asteroid and1421 Esperanto are considered to be the most remoteZamenhof-Esperanto objects (a monument or a place celebrating Zamenhof). The officialnaming citation was published by theMinor Planet Center in January 1956 (M.P.C. 1350).[14]
