_Schmidt.png) Shape model ofSchmidt from itslightcurve | |
| Discovery[1] | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | C. J. van Houten I. van Houten-G. T. Gehrels |
| Discovery site | Palomar Obs. |
| Discovery date | 24 September 1960 |
| Designations | |
| (1743) Schmidt | |
Named after | Bernhard Schmidt[2] (German optician) |
| 4109 P-L · 1931 BJ 1939 CN · 1943 EA 1947 GD · 1951 JU 1952 QD | |
| main-belt[1][3] · (inner) background[4][5] | |
| Orbital characteristics[3] | |
| Epoch 27 April 2019 (JD 2458600.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 0 | |
| Observation arc | 87.76yr (32,056 d) |
| Aphelion | 2.8066AU |
| Perihelion | 2.1405 AU |
| 2.4736 AU | |
| Eccentricity | 0.1346 |
| 3.89 yr (1,421 d) | |
| 202.34° | |
| 0° 15m 11.88s / day | |
| Inclination | 6.3568° |
| 189.64° | |
| 359.51° | |
| Physical characteristics | |
| 17.00–17.01 km[6][7] 17.28±1.4 km[8] 18.230±6.626 km[9] 19.062±0.133 km[10] 19.338±0.105 km[11][12] 20.69±0.31 km[13] 20.78±0.43 km[14] | |
| 17.45 h[15] | |
| 0.042[13] 0.045[14] 0.0495[10] 0.0502[9] 0.057[11][12] 0.06[6][7] 0.0603[8] | |
| C(SMASS-I)[4] B–V = 0.620[3] U–B = 0.260[3] | |
| 12.47[7] 12.48[1][3][6][8][9][10][11][13][14][15] | |
1743 Schmidt, provisional designation4109 P-L, is a dark backgroundasteroid from the inner regions of theasteroid belt, approximately 19 kilometers (12 miles) in diameter. It was discovered during thePalomar–Leiden survey on 24 September 1960, by astronomersIngrid andCornelis van Houten at Leiden, on photographic plates taken byTom Gehrels atPalomar Observatory in California.[1] TheC-type asteroid has arotation period of 17.5 hours.[16] It was named for the opticianBernhard Schmidt.[2]
Schmidt is a non-family asteroid from the main belt'sbackground population.[4][5] As it is located in the dynamical region of theVesta family,[16] the asteroid is potentially a Vestianinterloper due to its completely differentspectral type. It orbits the Sun in theinner asteroid belt at a distance of 2.1–2.8 AU once every 3 years and 11 months (1,421 days;semi-major axis of 2.47 AU). Its orbit has aneccentricity of 0.13 and aninclination of 6° with respect to theecliptic.[3] The body'sobservation arc begins with its first observation as1931 BJ at theLowell Observatory in January 1931, more than 29 years prior to its official discovery observation atPalomar Observatory.[1]
Thesurvey designation "P-L" stands for "Palomar–Leiden", named after the Palomar andLeiden Observatory, which collaborated on the fruitfulPalomar–Leiden survey in the 1960s. Gehrels used Palomar'sSamuel Oschin telescope (also known as the 48-inch Schmidt Telescope), and shipped thephotographic plates to Ingrid and Cornelis van Houten at Leiden Observatory whereastrometry was carried out. The trio are credited with the discovery ofseveral thousand asteroid discoveries.[17]
Thisminor planet was named after Estonian-German optician and astronomerBernhard Schmidt (1879–1935), who invented theSchmidt camera, a telescope design with a spherical primary mirror and an aspherical correcting lens, providing a wide field of view with little optical aberrations.[2] Proposed byPaul Herget, the asteroid's officialnaming citation was published by theMinor Planet Center on 15 August 1970 (M.P.C. 3086).[18]
Schmidt is a common carbonaceousC-type asteroid as determined during the first phase of theSmall Main-Belt Asteroid Spectroscopic Survey.[4]
In September 1983, a rotationallightcurve ofSchmidt was obtained fromphotometric observations byRichard Binzel. Lightcurve analysis gave arotation period of17.45 hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.36magnitude (U=3).[15] A modeled lightcurve using photometric data from the Lowell Photometric Database was published in 2016. It gave a concurring period of17.4599±0.0001 hours, as well as twospin axes at (69.0°, −62.0°) and (261.0°, −53.0°) inecliptic coordinates (λ, β).[19]
According to the surveys carried out by the Infrared Astronomical SatelliteIRAS, the JapaneseAkari satellite and theNEOWISE mission of NASA'sWide-field Infrared Survey Explorer,Schmidt measures between 17.00 and 20.78 kilometers in diameter and its surface has analbedo between 0.042 and 0.0603.[6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14]
TheCollaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link adopts the results obtained by IRAS, that is, an albedo of 0.0603 and a diameter of 17.28 kilometers based on anabsolute magnitude of 12.48.[16]
