| Discovery[1] | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | LINEAR |
| Discovery site | Lincoln Lab's ETS |
| Discovery date | 22 May 1998 |
| Designations | |
| (21509) Lucascavin | |
Named after | Lucas James Cavin[1] (2005ISEF awardee) |
| 1998 KL35 · 1982 VD3 | |
| main-belt[1][2] · (inner) Lucascavin[3] · Flora[3][4] Baptistina[3] · Duponta[5] | |
| Orbital characteristics[2] | |
| Epoch 27 April 2019 (JD 2458600.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 0 | |
| Observation arc | 35.44yr (12,944 d) |
| Aphelion | 2.5369AU |
| Perihelion | 2.0276 AU |
| 2.2822 AU | |
| Eccentricity | 0.1116 |
| 3.45 yr (1,259 d) | |
| 189.97° | |
| 0° 17m 9.24s / day | |
| Inclination | 5.9813° |
| 70.168° | |
| 4.4723° | |
| Physical characteristics | |
| 2.54 km(calculated)[4] | |
| 5.784±0.004 h[6] | |
| 0.24(assumed)[4] | |
| S(assumed)[4] V–R =0.474±0.016[6] | |
| 14.68±0.07(R)[6] 14.9[1][2] | |
21509 Lucascavin (provisional designation1998 KL35) is a smallasteroid from the inner regions of theasteroid belt, approximately 2.5 kilometers (1.6 miles) in diameter. It is the namesake of the tinyLucascavin family located within theFlora clan. It was discovered on 22 May 1998, by astronomers with theLincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research at theLincoln Laboratory's Experimental Test Site near Socorro, New Mexico.[1] The presumedS-type asteroid has arotation period of 5.8 hours.[4] It was named for the 2005-ISEF awardee Lucas James Cavin.[1]
According to aHCM-analysis byDavid Nesvorný, Lucascavin is the namesake of theLucascavin family (412),[3] a tight, youngcluster between 200 and 800 thousand years old,[6][7] which consists of 3 known asteroids only – the others are(180255) and(209570). The cluster in turn belongs to the encompassingBaptistina family (403) within the largerFlorian region (402).[3][8] Since other astronomers have ruled out the existence of a Flora family in the first place, Lucascavin has also been grouped to the alternativeDuponta family, a core group inside the Florian region.[5]
Lucascavin orbits the Sun in theinner asteroid belt at a distance of 2.0–2.5 AU once every 3 years and 5 months (1,259 days;semi-major axis of 2.28 AU). Its orbit has aneccentricity of 0.11 and aninclination of 6° with respect to theecliptic.[2] The body'sobservation arc begins with its first observation as1982 VD3 atKiso Observatory in November 1982, more than 15 years prior to its official discovery observation.[1]
Thisminor planet was named after Lucas James Cavin (born 1986) who won the second place in the 2005Intel International Science and Engineering Fair for his engineering project.[1] The officialnaming citation was published by theMinor Planet Center on 22 August 2005 (M.P.C. 54702).[9] At the time he attended the Chillico High School in Missouri, United States.[1]
Lucascavin is an assumedS-type asteroid,[4] in agreement with the overallspectral type of theLucascavin,Baptistina andFlora family groupings.[3][8]: 23
Between 2006 and 2016, several rotationallightcurves of Lucascavin have been obtained fromphotometric observations by Czech astronomerPetr Pravec. Best-rated lightcurve analysis from 2013 gave arotation period of5.784±0.004 hours with a consolidated brightness amplitude between 0.23 and 0.30magnitude (U=2/3/3-).[4][6] Pravec also determined a lowV–R color index of 0.474.[6]
TheCollaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes analbedo of 0.24 – derived from8 Flora the namesake of the Flora clan – and calculates a diameter of 2.54 kilometers based on anabsolute magnitude of 15.14.[4]
