| Discovery[1] | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | J. Palisa |
| Discovery site | Vienna Obs. |
| Discovery date | 26 September 1914 |
| Designations | |
| (795) Fini | |
Named after | unknown[2] |
| A914 SF · 1940 GY 1946 UR · 1951 UR 1958 JC · 1914 VE | |
| Orbital characteristics[3] | |
| Epoch 31 May 2020 (JD 2459000.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 0 | |
| Observation arc | 102.89yr (37,580 d) |
| Aphelion | 3.0304AU |
| Perihelion | 2.4674 AU |
| 2.7489 AU | |
| Eccentricity | 0.1024 |
| 4.56 yr (1,665 d) | |
| 206.63° | |
| 0° 12m 58.68s / day | |
| Inclination | 19.051° |
| 17.377° | |
| 190.18° | |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Dimensions | 75.0 km × 75.0 km[5] |
795 Fini (prov. designation:A914 SFor1914 VE) is a dark and largebackground asteroid, approximately 76 kilometers (47 miles) in diameter, located in the central region of theasteroid belt. It was discovered by Austrian astronomerJohann Palisa at theVienna Observatory on 26 September 1914.[1] The carbonaceousC-type asteroid has a poorly determinedrotation period of 9.3 hours and seems rather spherical in shape. Any reference of the asteroid's name to a person is unknown.[2]
Fini is a non-family asteroid of the main belt'sbackground population when applying thehierarchical clustering method to itsproper orbital elements.[4][5] It orbits the Sun in thecentral main-belt at a distance of 2.5–3.0 AU once every 4 years and 7 months (1,665 days;semi-major axis of 2.75 AU). Its orbit has aneccentricity of 0.10 and aninclination of 19° with respect to theecliptic.[3] The body'sobservation arc begins atVienna Observatory on 16 March 1917, where it was officially discovered two and a half years before.[1]
"Fini" is an Austrian diminutive of Josephine. Any reference of thisminor planet's name to a person or occurrence is unknown.[2]
Among the many thousands ofnamed minor planets,Fini is one of 120 asteroids for which no official naming citation has been published. All of these asteroids have low numbers, the first being164 Eva. The last asteroid with a name of unknown meaning is1514 Ricouxa. They were discovered between 1876 and the 1930s, predominantly by astronomersAuguste Charlois,Johann Palisa,Max Wolf andKarl Reinmuth.[12]
In theTholen classification,Fini is a common, carbonaceousC-type asteroid.[3] It is also a C-type in the taxonomic classification based on near-infrared colors from the MOVIS-catalog, which was created from data gathered by theVISTA Hemisphere Survey conducted with theVISTA telescope atParanal Observatory in Chile.[10]
Several rotationallightcurves ofFini have been obtained fromphotometric observations.[11] However, the asteroid, which shows a notably low brightness variation – indicative of a spherical rather than elongated shape – still has a poorly determinedrotation period.[a]
Based on observations from February 2003 and November 2011,Brian Warner at hisPalmer Divide Observatory (716) in Colorado, determined three possible period solutions of7.59±0.001,8.641±0.002 and9.292±0.001 hours with corresponding low amplitudes of0.02±0.01,0.05±0.02 and0.06±0.01magnitude (U=1+/1/1+).[9][13][a]Petr Pravec andPeter Kušnirák atOndřejov Observatory derive a rotation period of4.65 hours from their observations in October 2001, or half of Warner's period solution, also with an amplitude of 0.2 magnitude (U=1).[b] In September 2010, astronomers at thePalomar Transient Factory in California determined an alternative period of26.971±0.0557 h with a brightness variation of 0.06 magnitude (U=1).[14]
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,Fini measures (74.66±1.4), (76.201±1.634) and (79.36±1.05) kilometers in diameter and its surface has analbedo of (0.0418±0.002), (0.040±0.006) and (0.037±0.001), respectively.[6][7][8] TheCollaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link adopts Petr Pravec's revised WISE-data,[15] that is an albedo of 0.0553 and a diameter of 62.56 kilometers based on anabsolute magnitude of 9.78.[11] Alternative mean-diameter measurements published by the WISE team include (54.31±12.96 km), (62.649±2.428 km), (75.71±22.78 km), (85.019±15.58 km) and (85.263±0.454 km) with corresponding albedos of (0.05±0.02), (0.0593±0.0103), (0.040±0.006), (0.0469±0.0880) and (0.027±0.003).[5][11] On 11 November 2006, anasteroid occultation ofFini gave a best-fit ellipse dimension of (75.0 km × 75.0 km) with a low quality rating of 1. These timed observations are taken when the asteroid passes in front of a distant star.[5]
