 Orbital diagram ofBAM | |
| Discovery[1] | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | L. Chernykh |
| Discovery site | Crimean Astrophysical Obs. |
| Discovery date | 8 October 1969 |
| Designations | |
| (2031) BAM | |
Named after | Baikal–Amur Mainline[2] (Siberian railway line) |
| 1969 TG2 · 1939 VB 1959 TW · 1972 NQ | |
| main-belt · (inner) Flora[3][4] | |
| Orbital characteristics[1] | |
| Epoch 4 September 2017 (JD 2458000.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 0 | |
| Observation arc | 77.39 yr (28,268 days) |
| Aphelion | 2.6203AU |
| Perihelion | 1.8477 AU |
| 2.2340 AU | |
| Eccentricity | 0.1729 |
| 3.34yr (1,220 days) | |
| 124.02° | |
| 0° 17m 42.72s / day | |
| Inclination | 4.7524° |
| 169.28° | |
| 213.58° | |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Dimensions | 7.14 km(calculated)[3] 8.14±0.36 km[5] |
| 10.774±0.004h[6] | |
| 0.170±0.017[5] 0.24(assumed)[3] | |
| S[3][7] | |
| 12.9[1][3] · 13.00[5] · 13.05±0.81[7] | |
2031 BAM, provisional designation1969 TG2, is a stony Florianasteroid from the inner regions of theasteroid belt, approximately 8 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 8 October 1969, by Soviet astronomerLyudmila Chernykh at theCrimean Astrophysical Observatory in Nauchnyj, on the Crimean peninsula.[8] The asteroid was named for those who built theBaikal–Amur Mainline (BAM; БАМ), a Siberian railway line.[2]
BAM is a member of theFlora family (402),[3][4] a giantasteroid family and the largest family of stony asteroids in the main belt.[9]: 23 It orbits the Sun in theinner asteroid belt at a distance of 1.8–2.6 AU once every 3 years and 4 months (1,220 days;semi-major axis of 2.23 AU). Its orbit has aneccentricity of 0.17 and aninclination of 5° with respect to theecliptic.[1]
The body'sobservation arc begins with its identification as1939 VB atUccle Observatory in November 1939, almost 30 years prior to its official discovery observation at Nauchnyj.[8]
BAM has been characterized as a stonyS-type asteroid byPan-STARRS photometric survey.[7]
In October 2016, a rotationallightcurve ofBAM was obtained from photometric observations by amateur astronomer Matthieu Conjat. Lightcurve analysis gave a well-definedrotation period of 10.774 hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.15magnitude (U=3).[6]
According to the survey carried out by the JapaneseAkari satellite,BAM measures 8.14 kilometers in diameter and its surface has analbedo of 0.170.[5] TheCollaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo of 0.24 – derived from8 Flora, the parent body of the Flora family – and calculates a diameter of 7.14 kilometers based on anabsolute magnitude of 12.9.[3]
Thisminor planet was named after those who constructed theBaikal–Amur Mainline (BAM; БАМ) through eastern Russia from 1974 to 1986. The rail line opened in 1989, and runs betweenUst-Kut (nearLake Baikal andKomsomolsk-on-Amur.[2][10] The officialnaming citation was published by theMinor Planet Center on 1 September 1978 (M.P.C. 4482).[11]
