| Discovery[1] | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | F. Dossin |
| Discovery site | Haute-Provence Obs. |
| Discovery date | 30 December 1981 |
| Designations | |
| (3198) Wallonia | |
| Pronunciation | /wəˈloʊniə/[2] |
Named after | Wallonia[1] (Belgian French Part) |
| 1981 YH1 | |
| Mars-crosser[1][3] | |
| Orbital characteristics[3] | |
| Epoch 23 March 2018 (JD 2458200.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 0 | |
| Observation arc | 36.47yr (13,322 d) |
| Aphelion | 2.7007AU |
| Perihelion | 1.6615 AU |
| 2.1811 AU | |
| Eccentricity | 0.2382 |
| 3.22 yr (1,177 d) | |
| 74.225° | |
| 0° 18m 21.6s / day | |
| Inclination | 17.959° |
| 83.572° | |
| 40.630° | |
| Physical characteristics | |
| 7.13 km(calculated)[4] | |
| 7.54±0.01 h[5][a] | |
| 0.20(assumed)[4] | |
| SMASS =S[3] Sqw(Bus–DeMeo)[6] K(S3OS2)[7] | |
| 13.1[1][3][4][8] | |
3198 Wallonia, provisional designation1981 YH1, is a stonyasteroid and sizableMars-crosser from the inner regions of theasteroid belt, approximately 7.1 kilometers (4.4 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 30 December 1981, by Belgian astronomerFrançois Dossin at theHaute-Provence Observatory in France.[1] TheS/K-type asteroid has arotation period of 7.5 hours. It was named after the French speaking region ofWallonia in Belgium.[1]
Wallonia is aMars-crossing asteroid, crossing the orbit ofMars at 1.666 AU. Members of this dynamically unstable group are located between themain belt andnear-Earth populations. It orbits the Sun at a distance of 1.7–2.7 AU once every 3 years and 3 months (1,177 days;semi-major axis of 2.18 AU). Its orbit has aneccentricity of 0.24 and aninclination of 18° with respect to theecliptic.[3] The body'sobservation arc begins with its official discovery observation.[1]
Thisminor planet was named afterWallonia, the French speaking part of Belgium, where the discoverer was born and where the Institut d'Astrophysique et Géophysique at theUniversity of Liège is located.[1] The official naming citation was published by theMinor Planet Center on 22 June 1986 (M.P.C. 10848).[9]
In theSMASS classification,Wallonia is a common, stonyS-type asteroid.[3] In theBus-DeMeo taxonomy it is a Svw-type, while In both the Tholen- and SMASS-like taxonomy of theSmall Solar System Objects Spectroscopic Survey (S3OS2),Wallonia is aK-type asteroid.[6][7]
In April 2008, a rotationallightcurve ofWallonia was obtained fromphotometric observations byBrian Warner at thePalmer Divide Observatory in Colorado, United States. Lightcurve analysis gave arotation period of7.54±0.01 hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.57magnitude (U=3).[5][a] French amateur astronomerRené Roy determined a very similar period of7.58±0.05 and an amplitude of 0.38 in April 2005 (U=2).[10]
TheCollaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo for a stony asteroid of 0.20 and calculates a diameter of 7.13 kilometers based on anabsolute magnitude of 13.1.[4] A generic magnitude-to-diameter conversion for an albedo of 0.20 also gives a diameter of 7.1 kilometers.[11]
This makesWallonia one of the largest mid-sizedMars-crossing asteroids comparable with1065 Amundsenia (9.75 km),1139 Atami (9.35 km),1474 Beira (14.9 km),1727 Mette (5.44 km),1131 Porzia (7.13 km),1235 Schorria (5.55 km),985 Rosina (8.18 km),1310 Villigera (15.24 km) and1468 Zomba (7 km), but far smaller than the largest members of this dynamical group, namely,132 Aethra,323 Brucia (former),1508 Kemi,2204 Lyyli and512 Taurinensis, which are all larger than 20 kilometers in diameter.
