| Discovery[1] | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | F. Kaiser |
| Discovery site | Heidelberg Obs. |
| Discovery date | 28 August 1913 |
| Designations | |
| (760) Massinga | |
Named after | Adam Massinger(1888–1914) (German astronomer)[2] |
| A913 QD · 1941 SL2 1913 SL | |
| Orbital characteristics[3] | |
| Epoch 31 May 2020 (JD 2459000.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 0 | |
| Observation arc | 106.27yr (38,816 d) |
| Aphelion | 3.8806AU |
| Perihelion | 2.4122 AU |
| 3.1464 AU | |
| Eccentricity | 0.2333 |
| 5.58 yr (2,039 d) | |
| 176.77° | |
| 0° 10m 35.76s / day | |
| Inclination | 12.539° |
| 331.55° | |
| 200.56° | |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Dimensions | 80.2 km × 56.2 km[5] |
| Mass | (1.33±1.32)×1018 kg[10] |
| 10.72±0.03 h[11] | |
760 Massinga (prov. designation:A913 QDor1913 SL) is a largebackground asteroid from the outer regions of theasteroid belt, approximately 70 kilometers (43 miles) in diameter. It was discovered by German astronomerFranz Kaiser at theHeidelberg Observatory on 28 August 1913.[1] The stonyS-type asteroid has arotation period of 10.7 hours and is somewhat elongated in shape. It was named in memory ofAdam Massinger (1888–1914), a German astronomer at Heidelberg who was killed inWorld War I.[2]
Massinga is a non-family asteroid of the main belt'sbackground population when applying thehierarchical clustering method to itsproper orbital elements.[4][5][6] It orbits the Sun in theouter asteroid belt at a distance of 2.4–3.9 AU once every 5 years and 7 months (2,039 days;semi-major axis of 3.15 AU). Its orbit has aneccentricity of 0.23 and aninclination of 13° with respect to theecliptic.[3]
Massinga was discovered byFranz Kaiser at theHeidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory in southwest Germany on 28 August 1913. On the same night, it was independently discovered by Russian astronomerGrigory Neujmin at theSimeiz Observatory on the Crimean peninsula. TheMinor Planet Center, however, only credits Franz Kaiser with the discovery. The body'sobservation arc begins at Heidelberg on 8 November 1914, more than a year after its official discovery observation.[1]
Thisminor planet was named afterAdam Massinger (1888–1914), a German astronomer anddiscoverer of minor planets at Heidelberg who died in theFirst Battle of Ypres during World War I on 21 October 1914. An obituary was published byMax Wolf in the astronomical journalAstronomische Nachrichten.[13] Thenaming was mentioned inThe Names of the Minor Planets byPaul Herget in 1955 (H 76).[2]
In theTholen classification,Massinga is a common, stonyS-type asteroid, though with an unusual spectrum (SU),[3] while in the Tholen- and SMASS-like taxonomic variants of theSmall Solar System Objects Spectroscopic Survey (S3OS2), it is an S-type and SL-type, latter which transitions to the uncommonL-type, respectively.[5][12]
In December 1999, a rotationallightcurve ofMassinga was obtained fromphotometric observations byRobert A. Koff at his observatory in Colorado. Lightcurve analysis gave arotation period of10.72±0.03 hours with a brightness variation of0.14±0.02magnitude (U=3).[11] In March 2006,Laurent Bernasconi and Rui Goncalves determined a similar period of10.7574±0.0004 hours and an amplitude of0.12±0.01 magnitude (U=3-).[14]
According to the surveys carried out by theNEOWISE mission of NASA'sWide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, the JapaneseAkari satellite, and the Infrared Astronomical SatelliteIRAS,Massinga measures (69.103±7.046), (70.03±1.25) and (71.29±1.9) kilometers in diameter and its surface has analbedo of (0.2276±0.012), (0.237±0.011) and (0.360±0.322), respectively.[7][8][9] TheCollaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link derives an albedo of 0.2392 and a diameter of 71.47 kilometers based on anabsolute magnitude of 7.9.[15]
On 29 February 2012, anasteroid occultation ofMassinga gave a best-fit ellipse dimension of (80.2 km × 56.2 km), with a high quality rating of 3. These timed observations are taken when the asteroid passes in front of a distant star.[5]
