_Burnhamia.png) Shape ofBurnhamia from modeledlightcurve | |
| Discovery[1] | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | M. F. Wolf |
| Discovery site | Heidelberg Obs. |
| Discovery date | 20 September 1916 |
| Designations | |
| (834) Burnhamia | |
| Pronunciation | /bərnˈheɪmiə/ |
Named after | Sherburne Wesley Burnham (American astronomer)[2] |
| A916 SG · 1959 CA 1972 JE · A905 UM 1916 AD · 1905 UM | |
| Orbital characteristics[3] | |
| Epoch 31 May 2020 (JD 2459000.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 0 | |
| Observation arc | 114.27yr (41,737 d) |
| Aphelion | 3.8256AU |
| Perihelion | 2.5443 AU |
| 3.1849 AU | |
| Eccentricity | 0.2012 |
| 5.68 yr (2,076 d) | |
| 207.71° | |
| 0° 10m 24.24s / day | |
| Inclination | 3.9779° |
| 182.68° | |
| 91.320° | |
| Physical characteristics | |
| 13.875±0.001 h[10] | |
| 9.5[1][3] | |
834 Burnhamia (prov. designation:A916 SGor1916 AD) is a largebackground asteroid, approximately 61 kilometers (38 miles) in diameter, that is located in the outer region of theasteroid belt. It was discovered on 20 September 1916, by German astronomerMax Wolf at theHeidelberg Observatory in southwest Germany.[1] TheX-type asteroid (GS) has arotation period of 13.9 hours. It was named after American astronomerSherburne Wesley Burnham (1838–1921).[2]
Burnhamia 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 theouter main-belt at a distance of 2.5–3.8 AU once every 5 years and 8 months (2,076 days;semi-major axis of 3.18 AU). Its orbit has aneccentricity of 0.20 and aninclination of 4° with respect to theecliptic.[3] The asteroid'sobservation arc begins with its first observation asA905 UM atHeidelberg Observatory on 26 October 1905, almost 11 years prior to its official discovery observation.[1]
Thisminor planet was named afterSherburne Wesley Burnham (1838–1921), American astronomer who discovered many visual binary stars and is known for hisBurnham Double Star Catalogue (BDS), a catalogue ofdouble stars seen in the Northern Hemisphere, which was published in two parts by the Carnegie Institution of Washington in 1906. Burnham observed from the Chicago (1877), Lick (1888) and Yerkes (1897) observatories. Thenaming was published in the journalAstronomische Nachrichten in 1921 (AN 214, 69), and was also mentioned inThe Names of the Minor Planets byPaul Herget in 1955 (H 82).[2] The lunar craterBurnham is also named in his honor.[12]
In theTholen classification,Burnhamia is closest to aG-type asteroid and somewhat similar to a common stonyS-type asteroid,[3] while In ioth the Tholen- and SMASS-like taxonomy of theSmall Solar System Objects Spectroscopic Survey (S3OS2),Burnhamia is anX-type asteroid.[5][11]
In October 2006, a rotationallightcurve ofBurnhamia was obtained fromphotometric observations by Robert Buchheim at the Altimira Observatory (G76) in California. Lightcurve analysis gave a well-definedrotation period of13.875±0.001 hours with a brightness variation of0.20±0.02magnitude (U=3).[10] The result supersedes previous observations by French amateur astronomerLaurent Bernasconi from May 2005, with a period of13.9±0.03 hours with an amplitude of0.15±0.01 magnitude (U=2+), and from October 2006, that gave a period of13.85±0.03 hours and an amplitude of0.22±0.02 magnitude (U=3−).[13]
According to the surveys carried out by theNEOWISE mission of NASA'sWide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE), the JapaneseAkari satellite, and the Infrared Astronomical SatelliteIRAS,Burnhamia measures (61.278±0.303), (61.44±2.13) and (66.65±2.4) kilometers in diameter and its surface has analbedo of (0.071±0.008), (0.082±0.007) and (0.0698±0.005), respectively.[6][7][9][8] TheCollaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link derives an albedo of 0.0602 and a diameter of 66.64 kilometers based on anabsolute magnitude of 9.55.[14] The WISE team also published an alternative mean-diameter of (66.151±1.727 km) with corresponding albedos of (0.0611±0.0082).[5][14] Twoasteroid occultations ofBurnhamia September 2013 and January 2014, gave both a best-fit ellipse dimension of (61.0 km × 61.0 km).[5] These timed observations are taken when the asteroid passes in front of a distant star.
