| Discovery[1] | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | Purple Mountain Obs. |
| Discovery site | Purple Mountain Obs. |
| Discovery date | 20 September 1965 |
| Designations | |
| (2752) Wu Chien-Shiung | |
Named after | Chien-Shiung Wu[1] (Chinese-American physicist) |
| 1965 SP · 1933 QW 1960 VA · 1970 RD 1978 EG7 · 1979 HN4 1981 TO4 · 1981 UY9 | |
| main-belt[1][2] · (outer) Eos[3][4] | |
| Orbital characteristics[2] | |
| Epoch 23 March 2018 (JD 2458200.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 0 | |
| Observation arc | 84.18yr (30,746 d) |
| Aphelion | 3.3585AU |
| Perihelion | 2.6878 AU |
| 3.0231 AU | |
| Eccentricity | 0.1109 |
| 5.26 yr (1,920 d) | |
| 340.43° | |
| 0° 11m 15s / day | |
| Inclination | 10.132° |
| 186.31° | |
| 198.82° | |
| Physical characteristics | |
| 15.484±0.203 km[5][6] 16.65±1.18 km[7] 17.80 km(calculated)[3] | |
| 36.343±0.5196 h[8] | |
| 0.14(assumed)[3] 0.184±0.028[7] 0.203±0.024[5][6] | |
| S(assumed)[3] | |
| 11.40[6][7] 11.5[2][3] 12.096±0.001(S)[8] | |
2752 Wu Chien-Shiung, provisional designation1965 SP, is an Eoanasteroid from the outer regions of theasteroid belt, approximately 16 kilometers (10 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 20 September 1965, by astronomers atPurple Mountain Observatory inNanking, China.[1] The asteroid has a longrotation period of 36.3 hours.[3] It was named for Chinese-American nuclear physicistChien-Shiung Wu.[1]
Wu Chien-Shiung is a core member of theEos family (606),[3][4] one of the largestasteroid families named after221 Eos.[9] It orbits the Sun in theouter main-belt at a distance of 2.7–3.4 AU once every 5 years and 3 months (1,920 days;semi-major axis of 3.02 AU). Its orbit has aneccentricity of 0.11 and aninclination of 10° with respect to theecliptic.[2]
The asteroid was first observed as1933 QW atHeidelberg Observatory in August 1933. The body'sobservation arc begins as1960 VA at theGoethe Link Observatory in November 1960, or 5 years prior to its official discovery observation at Nanking.[1]
Wu Chien-Shiung is an assumedS-type asteroid, while the overallspectral type for members of the Eos family is that of aK-type.[3][9]: 23
In August 2012, a rotationallightcurve ofWu Chien-Shiung was obtained fromphotometric observations in the S-band by astronomers with thePalomar Transient Factory in California. Lightcurve analysis gave a longrotation period of 36.343 hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.28magnitude (U=2).[8] While not being aslow rotator with spin rates above 100 hours,Wu Chien-Shiung's period is significantly longer than the average 2 to 20 hours observed for most asteroids.
According to the surveys carried out by the JapaneseAkari satellite and theNEOWISE mission of NASA'sWide-field Infrared Survey Explorer,Wu Chien-Shiung measures 15.484 and 16.65 kilometers in diameter and its surface has analbedo of 0.203 and 0.184,[5][6][7] respectively, while theCollaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo for K-type asteroids of 0.14 – derived from the Eos family's parent body – and calculates a diameter of 17.80 kilometers based on anabsolute magnitude of 11.5.[3]
Thisminor planet was named after Chinese-American nuclear physicistChien-Shiung Wu (1912–1997), renowned for her research on the separation ofuranium isotopes by gaseous diffusion and for theWu experiment conducted in 1956, for which she was awarded aWolf Prize in Physics in 1978(also seelist of laureates).[1]
The official naming citation was published by theMinor Planet Center on 11 March 1990 (M.P.C. 16040).[10]
