| Discovery[1] | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | E. F. Helin |
| Discovery site | Palomar Obs. |
| Discovery date | 6 September 1986 |
| Designations | |
| (6181) Bobweber | |
Named after | Robert Weber (astronomer)[2] |
| 1986 RW · 1979 YU8 1990 WL2 | |
| main-belt · (inner)[3] | |
| Orbital characteristics[1] | |
| Epoch 4 September 2017 (JD 2458000.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 0 | |
| Observation arc | 62.59 yr (22,860 days) |
| Aphelion | 3.0105AU |
| Perihelion | 1.8500 AU |
| 2.4302 AU | |
| Eccentricity | 0.2388 |
| 3.79yr (1,384 days) | |
| 30.628° | |
| 0° 15m 36.72s / day | |
| Inclination | 7.5690° |
| 303.65° | |
| 93.589° | |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Dimensions | 4.458±0.056 km[4] 4.488±0.046 km[5] 5.66 km(calculated)[3] |
| 2.7576±0.0001h[6] 2.75796±0.00003 h[a] | |
| 0.20(assumed)[3] 0.4210±0.0447[5] 0.425±0.038[4] | |
| S[3] | |
| 13.3[5] · 13.6[1][3] | |
6181 Bobweber, provisional designation1986 RW, is a stonyasteroid from the inner regions of theasteroid belt, approximately 5 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 6 September 1986, by American astronomerEleanor Helin at the U.S.Palomar Observatory in California, and named after astronomerRobert Weber.[2]
TheS-type asteroid orbits the Sun in theinner main-belt at a distance of 1.9–3.0 AU once every 3 years and 9 months (1,384 days). Its orbit has aneccentricity of 0.24 and aninclination of 8° with respect to theecliptic.[1] The firstprecovery was taken at the discovering observatory in 1954, which extended the asteroid'sobservation arc by 32 years prior to its discovery observation.[2]
A rotationallightcurve ofBobweber was obtained from photometric observations by Czech astronomerPetr Pravec atOndřejov Observatory in December 2009. It gave a well-definedrotation period of2.75796±0.00003 hours with a brightness variation of 0.12 inmagnitude (U=3).[a] In January 2014, astronomer Julian Oey at the Australian Blue Mountains Observatory (Q68) obtained a nearly identical period of2.7576±0.0001 hours with an amplitude of 0.15 magnitude (U=3-).[6]
According to the surveys carried out by NASA'sWide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequentNEOWISE mission,Bobweber measures 4.5 kilometers in diameter and its surface has a highalbedo of 0.42 and 0.43, respectively,[4][5] while theCollaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo for stony asteroids of 0.20 and calculates a diameter of 5.7 kilometers.[3]
Thisminor planet was named in memory ofRobert Weber (1926–2008), physicist anddiscoverer of minor planets atMIT Lincoln Laboratory, developer of theDeep Space Satellite Tracking Network. He also co-developed and was credited with the first discoveries made by theLincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research (LINEAR) atLincoln Laboratory's Experimental Test Site at White Sands Missile Range in Socorro, New Mexico. The approved naming citation was published by theMinor Planet Center on 21 March 2008 (M.P.C. 62353).[2][7]
