| Discovery[1] | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | P. Wild |
| Discovery site | Zimmerwald Obs. |
| Discovery date | 24 November 1973 |
| Designations | |
| (1936) Lugano | |
Named after | Lugano(Swiss city)[2] |
| 1973 WD · 1936 LC 1949 KE1 · 1951 WX 1964 VA1 · 1970 AG1 1970 AL1 · 1970 CD | |
| main-belt · (middle)[3] Adeona[4] | |
| Orbital characteristics[1] | |
| Epoch 4 September 2017 (JD 2458000.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 0 | |
| Observation arc | 61.33 yr (22,399 days) |
| Aphelion | 3.0395AU |
| Perihelion | 2.3131 AU |
| 2.6763 AU | |
| Eccentricity | 0.1357 |
| 4.38yr (1,599 days) | |
| 291.44° | |
| 0° 13m 30.36s / day | |
| Inclination | 10.254° |
| 265.17° | |
| 255.13° | |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Dimensions | 23.48±8.63 km[5] 24.56 km(derived)[3] 24.81±0.8 km[6] 27.95±0.87 km[7] 31.037±0.137 km[8] 31.43±8.87 km[9] 33.704±0.067 km[10] |
| 19.594±0.007h[11] 19.651±0.015 h[12] | |
| 0.028±0.011[8] 0.0294±0.0024[10] 0.04±0.02[9] 0.04±0.03[5] 0.0558(derived)[3] 0.093±0.007[7] 0.1042±0.008[6] | |
| SMASS =Ch[1] · P[10] | |
| 11.10[7][6][10] · 11.70[5] · 11.78[9] · 11.8[1][3] · 12.45±0.41[13] | |
1936 Lugano, provisional designation1973 WD, is a carbonaceous Adeonianasteroid from the middle region of theasteroid belt, approximately 26 kilometers in diameter.
It was discovered on 24 November 1973, by Swiss astronomerPaul Wild atZimmerwald Observatory near Bern, Switzerland.[14] It was later named for the Swiss city ofLugano.[2]
Lugano is a member of theAdeona family (505), a largefamily of carbonaceous asteroids.[4]
It orbits the Sun in thecentral main-belt at a distance of 2.3–3.0 AU once every 4 years and 5 months (1,599 days). Its orbit has aneccentricity of 0.14 and aninclination of 10° with respect to theecliptic.[1] It was first identified as1936 LC atJohannesburg Observatory in 1936. The body'sobservation arc begins 22 years prior to its official discovery observation at Zimmerwald, when it was identified as1951 WX atMcDonald Observatory in 1951.[14]
In theSMASS classification,Lugano is a Ch-subtype, a hydratedC-type asteroid,[1] while theWide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) rates it as a very dark and featureless reddishP-type asteroid.[10]
According to the space-based surveys carried out by the Infrared Astronomical SatelliteIRAS, the JapaneseAkari satellite and theNEOWISE mission of NASA's WISE telescope,Lugano measures between 23.48 and 33.7 kilometers in diameter and its surface has analbedo in the range of 0.028 to 0.1042.[5][6][7][8][9][10]
TheCollaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link derives an albedo of 0.056 and a diameter of 24.6 kilometers, based on an absolutemagnitude of 11.8.[3]
Two rotationallightcurves ofLugano were obtained from photometric observations made in February 2005. The first lightcurve by French astronomer Raymond Poncy gave arotation period of19.594±0.007 hours with a brightness variation of 0.25 magnitude (U=2).[11] The second lightcurve from the U.S.Carbuncle Hill Observatory (912), Rhode Island, rendered a well-defined period of19.651±0.015 with an amplitude of 0.31 in magnitude (U=3).[12]
Theminor planet is named after the Swiss-Italian city ofLugano, located south of the Alps and known for its mild climate. During the winter half-year of 1973/74, Paul Wild discovered three more asteroids,1935 Lucerna,1937 Locarno and1938 Lausanna, which he named after the Swiss citiesLucerne,Locarno andLausanne, respectively, composing a quartet of sequentially numbered, thematically named asteroids.[2] The officialnaming citation was published by theMinor Planet Center on 1 April 1978 (M.P.C. 4358).[15]
