| Discovery[1] | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | G. Neujmin |
| Discovery site | Simeiz Obs. |
| Discovery date | 25 January 1914 |
| Designations | |
| (779) Nina | |
Named after | Nina Neujmina (Discoverer's sister)[2] |
| A914 BH · A908 YB A912 TE · 1914 UB | |
| Orbital characteristics[3] | |
| Epoch 31 May 2020 (JD 2459000.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 0 | |
| Observation arc | 103.51yr (37,806 d) |
| Aphelion | 3.2707AU |
| Perihelion | 2.0571 AU |
| 2.6639 AU | |
| Eccentricity | 0.2278 |
| 4.35 yr (1,588 d) | |
| 301.50° | |
| 0° 13m 36.12s / day | |
| Inclination | 14.582° |
| 283.74° | |
| 49.126° | |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Dimensions | 79.9 km × 79.9 km |
| 11.186 h[10] | |
779 Nina (prov. designation:A914 BHor1914 UB) is a largebackground asteroid, approximately 80 kilometers (50 miles) in diameter, located in the central region of theasteroid belt. It was discovered on 25 January 1914, by Russian astronomerGrigory Neujmin (1886–1946) at theSimeiz Observatory on the Crimean peninsula.[1] The metallicX-type asteroid with an intermediatealbedo has arotation period of 11.2 hours. It was named after the discoverer's sister, Nina Neujmina (Tsentilovich) (1889–1971).[2]
Nina 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 thecentral main-belt at a distance of 2.1–3.3 AU once every 4 years and 4 months (1,588 days;semi-major axis of 2.66 AU). Its orbit has aneccentricity of 0.23 and aninclination of 15° with respect to theecliptic.[3] The body's was first observed asA908 YB andA912 TE atHeidelberg Observatory on 16 December 1908 and 14 October 1912, respectively. Theobservation arc begins atVienna Observatory on 31 July 1916, more than two years after to its official discovery observation atSimeiz Observatory on Crimea.[1]
Thisminor planet wasnamed after Nina Nikolaevna Neujmina (Tsentilovich) (1889–1971), mathematician and sister of Russian discovererGrigory Neujmin (1886–1946).[2]
In the Bus–BinzelSMASS classification,Nina is anX-type asteroid.[3] It is also an X-type in both the Tholen- and SMASS-like taxonomy of theSmall Solar System Objects Spectroscopic Survey (S3OS2).[5][11] Belskaya classifiesNina as a metallicM-type asteroid, which is the equivalentspectral type in theTholen taxonomy for X-types with an intermediate albedo(see below).[12][13]
In June 1981, a rotationallightcurve ofNina was obtained fromphotometric observations byAlan Harris at theTable Mountain andLowell observatories. Lightcurve analysis gave arotation period of11.186 hours with a brightness variation of0.25magnitude (U=3).[10] It was confirmed byBrian Warner at hisPalmer Divide Observatory (716) in Colorado in January 2009, who determined a period of11.17±0.01 hours with an amplitude of0.32±0.02 magnitude (U=3).[15][a] In September 2012, French amateur astronomer Gérald Rousseau obtained a period of11.556±0.002 hours with an amplitude of0.06 magnitude (U=2+).[16]
According to the surveys carried out by the Infrared Astronomical SatelliteIRAS, theNEOWISE mission of NASA'sWide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE), and the JapaneseAkari satellite,Nina measures (76.62±4.0), (80.572±2.220) and (81.27±1.00) kilometers in diameter and its surface has analbedo of (0.1440±0.016), (0.157±0.022) and (0.132±0.004), respectively.[7][8][9] TheCollaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link adoptsPetr Pravec's revised WISE-albedo of 0.1694 and takes a diameter of 77.46 kilometers based on anabsolute magnitude of 8.1.[13][14] The WISE team also published an alternative mean-diameter of (77.000±6.578 km) with an albedo of (0.1740±0.0559).[13] On 10 November 2005, anasteroid occultation ofNina gave a best-fit ellipse dimension of (79.9 km × 79.9 km), with a quality rating of 2. These timed observations are taken when the asteroid passes in front of a distant star.[5]
