| Discovery[1] | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | C. J. van Houten I. van Houten T. Gehrels |
| Discovery site | Palomar Obs. |
| Discovery date | 24 September 1960 |
| Designations | |
| (6805) Abstracta | |
| Pronunciation | /æbˈstræktə/[2] |
Named after | Astronomy and Astrophysics Abstracts[3] |
| 4600 P-L · 1988 RG11 | |
| main-belt · Themis[4] | |
| Orbital characteristics[1] | |
| Epoch 4 September 2017 (JD 2458000.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 0 | |
| Observation arc | 67.00 yr (24,472 days) |
| Aphelion | 3.6852AU |
| Perihelion | 2.6917 AU |
| 3.1885 AU | |
| Eccentricity | 0.1558 |
| 5.69yr (2,080 days) | |
| 281.84° | |
| 0° 10m 23.16s / day | |
| Inclination | 1.8950° |
| 136.68° | |
| 338.24° | |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Dimensions | 8.41 km(calculated)[4] 11.870±0.246 km[5][6] |
| 152.1834±0.8953h[7] | |
| 0.08(assumed)[4] 0.087±0.026[5][6] | |
| C[4] | |
| 13.0[1] · 12.9[5] · 13.74[4] · 13.286±0.009(R)[7] | |
6805 Abstracta, provisional designation4600 P-L, is acarbonaceousThemistianasteroid andslow rotator from the outer region of theasteroid belt, approximately 10 kilometers in diameter.
It was discovered on 24 September 1960, by Dutch astronomer coupleIngrid andCornelis van Houten at Leiden, on photographic plates taken by Dutch–American astronomerTom Gehrels atPalomar Observatory in California, United States.[8] The asteroid was named for the astronomical bibliographyAstronomy and Astrophysics Abstracts.[3]
Abstracta is a member of theThemis family, a dynamical family of outer-belt asteroids with nearly coplanarecliptical orbits. It orbits the Sun in theouter main-belt at a distance of 2.7–3.7 AU once every 5 years and 8 months (2,080 days). Its orbit has aneccentricity of 0.16 and aninclination of 2° with respect to theecliptic.[1] The firstprecovery was taken atPalomar Observatory in 1949, extending the asteroid'sobservation arc by 11 years prior to its discovery.[8]
Thesurvey designation "P–L" stands for "Palomar–Leiden", named after Palomar Observatory andLeiden Observatory, which collaborated on the fruitfulPalomar–Leiden survey in the 1960s. Gehrels used Palomar'sSamuel Oschin telescope (also known as the 48-inch Schmidt Telescope), and shipped thephotographic plates to Ingrid and Cornelis van Houten at Leiden Observatory. The trio are credited with the discovery of several thousand minor planets.[9]
A rotationallightcurve ofAbstracta was obtained at the U.S.Palomar Transient Factory from photometric observation made in September 2011. It showed an exceptionally longrotation period of152.1834±0.8953 hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.78 inmagnitude (U=2).[7]
According to theNEOWISE mission of NASA's space-basedWide-field Infrared Survey Explorer,Abstracta measures 11.9 kilometers in diameter and its surface has a lowalbedo of 0.09.[5][6] TheCollaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a typical albedo forcarbonaceous asteroids of 0.08 and calculates a somewhat smaller diameter of 8.4 kilometers with anabsolute magnitude of 13.74.[4]
Thisminor planet was named for the astronomical bibliography Astronomy and Astrophysics Abstracts (AAA).[3]
Since it was founded under the auspices of theInternational Astronomical Union in 1969, it has systematically described, documented and indexed more than half a millions astronomical and astrophysical documents and produced more than 60 volumes. Head of AAA was German astronomerLutz Schmadel, also known for hisDictionary of Minor Planet Names, and after whom the minor planet2234 Schmadel is named.[3] The official naming citation was published by theMinor Planet Center on 1 June 1996(M.P.C. 27331).[10]
