1190 Pelagia, provisional designation , is a dark Nysian
asteroid
An asteroid is a minor planet of the inner Solar System. Sizes and shapes of asteroids vary significantly, ranging from 1-meter rocks to a dwarf planet almost 1000 km in diameter; they are rocky, metallic or icy bodies with no atmosphere.
...
from the inner regions of the
asteroid belt, approximately 17 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 20 September 1930, by Soviet–Georgian astronomer
Grigory Neujmin at the
Simeiz Observatory on the Crimean peninsula.
The asteroid was named after astronomer
Pelageya Shajn.
Classification and orbit
''Pelagia'' is a member of the
Nysa family (),
a prominent family of the
inner main-belt, named after
44 Nysa
Nysa (minor planet designation: 44 Nysa) is a large and very bright main-belt asteroid, and the brightest member of the Nysian asteroid family. It is classified as a rare class E asteroid and is probably the largest of this type (though 55 Pan ...
.
It orbits the Sun at a distance of 2.1–2.8
AU once every 3 years and 9 months (1,385 days). Its orbit has an
eccentricity of 0.13 and an
inclination of 3
° with respect to the
ecliptic.
The asteroid's
observation arc begins at
Heidelberg Observatory in January 1909, when it was identified as , more than 21 years prior to its official discovery observation at Simeiz.
Physical characteristics
The asteroid has been characterized as an
X-type asteroid by
Pan-STARRS photometric survey.
Lightcurve
In December 2010, a rotational
lightcurve of ''Pelagia'' was obtained from photometric observations by Japanese astronomer couple Hiromi and Hiroko Hamanowa. Lightcurve analysis gave a well-defined
rotation period
The rotation period of a celestial object (e.g., star, gas giant, planet, moon, asteroid) may refer to its sidereal rotation period, i.e. the time that the object takes to complete a single revolution around its axis of rotation relative to the ...
of 2.3661 hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.08
magnitude ().
While not being a
fast rotator, the body has a notably short period for an asteroid of its size. Based on the lightcurve's low amplitude, it appears to have a rather
spheroidal
A spheroid, also known as an ellipsoid of revolution or rotational ellipsoid, is a quadric surface obtained by rotating an ellipse about one of its principal axes; in other words, an ellipsoid with two equal semi-diameters. A spheroid has circ ...
shape.
Diameter and albedo
According to the surveys carried out by the Japanese
Akari satellite and the
NEOWISE mission of NASA's
Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, ''Pelagia'' measures between 15.05 and 17.923 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an
albedo between 0.031 and 0.067.
The ''Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link'' derives an albedo of 0.0486 and a diameter of 17.39 kilometers based on an
absolute magnitude of 12.7.
Naming
This
minor planet was named in honor of Soviet–Russian astronomer
Pelageya Shajn (1894–1956). In 1928, she discovered the asteroid
1112 Polonia and became the first female
discoverer of minor planets ().
A second asteroid,
1648 Shajna, was also named in her and her husbands memory (
Grigory Shajn
Grigory Abramovich Shajn (russian: Григорий Абрамович Шайн) (April 19, 1892 – August 4, 1956) was a Soviet/Russian astronomer. In modern English transliteration, his surname would be given as Shayn, but his astronomical d ...
).
References
External links
Asteroid Lightcurve Database (LCDB) query form
)
Dictionary of Minor Planet Names Google books
– Observatoire de Genève, Raoul Behrend
– Minor Planet Center
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Pelagia
001190
Discoveries by Grigory Neujmin
Named minor planets
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