_Ricouxa.png) Shape model of Ricouxa from itslightcurve | |
| Discovery[1] | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | M. F. Wolf |
| Discovery site | Heidelberg Obs. |
| Discovery date | 22 August 1906 |
| Designations | |
| (1514) Ricouxa | |
Named after | unknown (named byA. Patry)[2] |
| 1906 UR · 1936 ME 1939 HC · 1940 XA 1970 XA · A916 OC | |
| main-belt · Flora[3] | |
| Orbital characteristics[1] | |
| Epoch 4 September 2017 (JD 2458000.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 0 | |
| Observation arc | 110.06 yr (40,198 days) |
| Aphelion | 2.6876AU |
| Perihelion | 1.7937 AU |
| 2.2407 AU | |
| Eccentricity | 0.1995 |
| 3.35yr (1,225 days) | |
| 41.914° | |
| 0° 17m 38.04s / day | |
| Inclination | 4.5349° |
| 145.85° | |
| 179.38° | |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Dimensions | 6.66±0.27 km[4] 7.07 km(derived)[3] 7.784±0.062 km[5] 8.129±0.021 km[6] |
| 10.033±0.002h[7] 10.42466 h[8] 10.42468±0.00005 h[9] 10.438 h[10] | |
| 0.1821±0.0397[6] 0.228±0.039[5] 0.24(assumed)[3] 0.363±0.046[4] | |
| S[3] | |
| 12.60[4] · 12.79±0.17[11] · 12.8[1] · 12.92[3][6][10] | |
1514 Ricouxa (provisional designation1906 UR) is a stony Florianasteroid from the inner regions of theasteroid belt, approximately 7.5 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 22 August 1906, by German astronomerMax Wolf atHeidelberg Observatory in southern Germany.[12] The origin of the asteroid's name is unknown.[2]
Ricouxa is aS-type asteroid and member of theFlora family, one of the largest collisional populations of stony asteroids in the entire main-belt. It orbits the Sun at a distance of 1.8–2.7 AU once every 3 years and 4 months (1,225 days). Its orbit has aneccentricity of 0.20 and aninclination of 5° with respect to theecliptic.[1] Ricouxa'sobservation arc begins with its official discovery observation in 1906, as noprecoveries were taken, and no prior identifications were made.[12]
In the 1990s, Italian astronomerMaria A. Barucci obtained a rotationallightcurve of Ricouxa, using theESO 1-metre telescope atLa Silla Observatory in Chile. Lightcurve analysis gave a well-definedrotation period of 10.438 hours with a brightness variation of 0.62magnitude (U=3).[10]
Photometric observations by French amateur astronomerPierre Antonini in April 2006, gave a similar period of 10.033 hours and an identical amplitude of 0.62 magnitude (U=2+).[7] Additional periods were derived on modeled light-curves from various data sources. They gave a period of 10.42466 and 10.42468 hours, as well as a spin axis of (0°, 71.0°) and (251.0°, 75.0°) inecliptic coordinates, respectively.[8][9]
According to the survey carried out by NASA'sWide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequentNEOWISE mission, Ricouxa measures 7.78 kilometers in diameter, and its surface has analbedo of 0.228 (revised albedo-fits per 2014),[5] while theCollaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes an albedo of 0.24 – taken from8 Flora, the family's principal body and namesake – and derives a diameter of 7.07 kilometers based on anabsolute magnitude of 12.92.[3]
Thisminor planet was named by French astronomerAndré Patry (1902–1960), after whom the asteroid1601 Patry is named. However, any reference to a person or occurrence for the name "Ricouxa" remains unknown.[2] The asteroid's name was also published inThe Names of the Minor Planets byPaul Herget in 1955 (H 135).[2]
Among the many thousands ofnamed minor planets, Ricouxa is one of 120 asteroids, for which no official naming citation has been published. All of these low-numbered asteroids have numbers between164 Eva and1514 Ricouxa and were discovered between 1876 and the 1930s, predominantly by astronomersAuguste Charlois,Johann Palisa,Max Wolf andKarl Reinmuth.[13]
