| Discovery[1] | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | S. Belyavskyj |
| Discovery site | Simeiz Obs. |
| Discovery date | 3 April 1916 |
| Designations | |
| (855) Newcombia | |
Named after | Simon Newcomb[2] (United States Naval Observatory) |
| A916 GP · 1935 SJ1 1938 KB · 1916 ZP | |
| main-belt[1][3] · (inner) background[4][5] | |
| Orbital characteristics[3] | |
| Epoch 31 May 2020 (JD 2459000.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 0 | |
| Observation arc | 103.77yr (37,902 d) |
| Aphelion | 2.7845AU |
| Perihelion | 1.9403 AU |
| 2.3624 AU | |
| Eccentricity | 0.1787 |
| 3.63 yr (1,326 d) | |
| 211.62° | |
| 0° 16m 17.04s / day | |
| Inclination | 10.881° |
| 17.118° | |
| 233.98° | |
| Physical characteristics | |
| 3.003 h[9][10] | |
| S(SDSS-MOC)[11] | |
| 11.70[1][3] | |
855 Newcombia (prov. designation:A916 GPor1916 ZP) is a stonybackground asteroid from the inner regions of theasteroid belt. It was discovered on 3 April 1916, by astronomerSergey Belyavsky at theSimeiz Observatory on the Crimean peninsula.[1] TheS-type asteroid has a notably shortrotation period of 3.0 hours and measures approximately 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) in diameter. It was named after Canadian–American astronomerSimon Newcomb (1835–1909).[2]
Newcombia 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 theinner main-belt at a distance of 1.9–2.8 AU once every 3 years and 8 months (1,326 days;semi-major axis of 2.36 AU). Its orbit has aneccentricity of 0.18 and aninclination of 11° with respect to theecliptic.[3]
Newcombia was discovered by Soviet-Russian astronomerSergey Belyavsky at theSimeiz Observatory on the Crimean peninsula on 3 April 1916. The body'sobservation arc begins three weeks later, with its independent discovery byMax Wolf atHeidelberg Observatory on 28 April 2016.[2] TheMinor Planet Center, however, only credits the first discoverer.[1]
Thisminor planet was named afterSimon Newcomb (1835–1909), a Canadian–American professor of astronomy anddirector of the U.S. Nautical Almanac Office at theUnited States Naval Observatory. He worked on cometary and planetary orbits and is known for hisTables of the Motion of the Earth on its Axis and Around the Sun, a mathematical development of the position of the Earth in theSolar System. Newcomb also measured thespeed of light and revised theastronomical unit. Thenaming was mentioned inThe Names of the Minor Planets byPaul Herget in 1955 (H 84).[2] The lunar craterNewcomb as well as the Martian craterNewcomb were also named in his honor.[12][13]
In theSDSS-based taxonomy, Newcombia is a common, stonyS-type asteroid.[11]
In October 2004, a rotationallightcurve ofNewcombia was obtained fromphotometric observations by American amateur astronomerWalter R. Cooney Jr. in collaboration withJohn Gross,Dirk Terrell,Vishnu Reddy andRon Dyvig. Lightcurve analysis gave a well-definedrotation period of3.003±0.007 hours with a brightness variation of0.35±0.03magnitude (U=3).[10][14]
An identical period of3.003±0.001 hours with an amplitude of0.33±0.02 magnitude was determined in April 2014, byDaniel Klinglesmith and colleagues at the Etscorn Observatory (719) in New Mexico (U=3).[9] Klinglesmith also published a period of3.004±0.001 h in November 2015 and January 2017 (U=3/3).[15][16] Two more lightcurves byRobert Stephens at the Center for Solar System Studies (U81) gave a period of3.002±0.001 and3.004±0.001 hours with a brightness variation of0.41±0.02 and0.4±0.02 magnitude in March 2014 and September 2019, respectively (U=3/3).[17][a]
According to the surveys carried out by the JapaneseAkari satellite and theNEOWISE mission of NASA'sWide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE),Newcombia measures (10.97±0.28) and (12.392±0.088) kilometers in diameter and its surface has analbedo of (0.285±0.017) and (0.219±0.040), respectively.[6][7][8] TheCollaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo for a stony asteroid of 0.20 and calculates a diameter of 13.58 kilometers based on anabsolute magnitude of 11.7.[14] Alternative mean-diameter measurements published by the WISE team include (10.19±1.49 km) and (12.930±0.133 km) with corresponding albedos of (0.41±0.19) and (0.2037±0.0483).[5][14]
