_Walk%25C3%25BCre.png) Modelled shape ofWalküre from itslightcurve | |
| Discovery[1] | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | G. Neujmin |
| Discovery site | Simeiz Obs. |
| Discovery date | 13 September 1915 |
| Designations | |
| (877) Walküre | |
Named after | Valkyrie (mythology) andDie Walküre (opera)[2] |
| A915 RV · 1909 GC A909 GC · 1915 Σ7 1915 S7 | |
| Orbital characteristics[3] | |
| Epoch 31 May 2020 (JD 2459000.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 0 | |
| Observation arc | 98.94yr (36,137 d) |
| Aphelion | 2.8854AU |
| Perihelion | 2.0877 AU |
| 2.4866 AU | |
| Eccentricity | 0.1604 |
| 3.92 yr (1,432 d) | |
| 222.78° | |
| 0° 15m 5.04s / day | |
| Inclination | 4.2555° |
| 116.38° | |
| 275.82° | |
| Physical characteristics | |
| 17.424±0.004 h[9] | |
| 10.9[1][3] | |
877 Walküre (prov. designation:A915 RVor1915 Σ7) is a darkbackground asteroid from the inner regions of theasteroid belt, approximately 38 kilometers (24 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 13 September 1915, by Russian astronomerGrigory Neujmin at theSimeiz Observatory on the Crimean peninsula.[1] The carbonaceousF/C-type asteroid has arotation period of 17.4 hours and is likely elongated in shape. It was named after the female spiritValkyrie fromNorse mythology, best known from Wagner's operaDie Walküre.[2]
Located in or near the orbital region of theNysa family,[10]Walküre 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 asteroid belt at a distance of 2.1–2.9 AU once every 3 years and 11 months (1,432 days;semi-major axis of 2.49 AU). Its orbit has aneccentricity of 0.16 and aninclination of 4° with respect to theecliptic.[3] The asteroid was first observed asA909 GC (1909 GC) atHeidelberg Observatory on 9 April 1909, where the body'sobservation arc begins on 25 February 1921, more than 5 years after its official discovery observation atSimeiz on 13 September 1915.[1]
Thisminor planet was named after theValkyrie (German:Walküre) a female spirit fromNorse mythology. The shield-bearing valkyries decide the fate of warriors in battle, and conduct some of them toValhalla, the afterlife hall where the fallen heroes are received.Die Walküre (The Valkyrie) is also part of the opera cycleDer Ring des Nibelungen byRichard Wagner (1813–1883), the others beingThe Rhinegold,Siegfried and theTwilight of the Gods. The asteroid was named by astronomerSergey Belyavsky and thenaming was published in the journalAstronomische Nachrichten in 1923 (AN 219, 401). Asteroids894 Erda and890 Waltraut are also named after characters in Wagner'sRing, while3992 Wagner and1260 Walhalla are named after the composer and theWalhalla memorial hall of fame, respectively.
In theTholen classification,Walküre is a dark, carbonaceousF-type asteroid,[3] while in theSDSS-based taxonomy and in the Barucci-taxonomy, it is a common carbonaceousC-type and C0-type asteroid, respectively.[5][11]
In February 2011, a rotationallightcurve ofWalküre was obtained fromphotometric observations by astronomer Li Bin at the XuYi Station (D29) of thePurple Mountain Observatory in China. Lightcurve analysis gave arotation period of17.424±0.004 hours with a brightness variation of0.44±0.03magnitude, indicative of an elongated shape (U=3−).[9] The result supersedes observations byRichard Binzel (1982) andRené Roy (2005), who determined a period of17.49 and17.44±0.02 with an amplitude of0.40 and0.33±0.01 magnitude, respectively (U=2/2).[12][13][10]
Two lightcurves, published in 2016, using modeled photometric data from the Lowell Photometric Database (LPD) and other sources, gave a concurring sidereal period of17.4217±0.0001 and17.4217±0.0005 hours, respectively. Each modeled lightcurve also determined twospin axes of (68.0°, 58.0°) and (253.0°, 61.0°), as well as (262.0°, 71.0°) and (47.0°, 66.0°) inecliptic coordinates (λ,β).[5][14][15]
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,Walküre measures (34.79±8.41), (38.41±1.4) and (39.93±0.51) kilometers in diameter and its surface has analbedo of (0.05±0.03), (0.0623±0.005) and (0.058±0.002), respectively.[6][7][8] TheCollaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link derives an albedo of 0.0634 and gives a diameter of 38.41 kilometers (identical to IRAS) based on anabsolute magnitude of 10.69.[10] Alternative mean-diameter measurements published by the WISE team include (37.34±9.49 km) and (42.553±15.236 km) with corresponding albedos of (0.05±0.02) and (0.037±0.020).[5][10]
