1394 Algoa, provisional designation , is a stony

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 14 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 12 June 1936, by English-born South-African astronomer Cyril Jackson at

Union Observatory Union Observatory also known as Johannesburg Observatory ( 078) is a defunct astronomical observatory in Johannesburg, South Africa that was operated between 1903 and 1971. It is located on Observatory Ridge, the city's highest point at 1,808 met ...

in Johannesburg, South Africa. The asteroid was named after the historical

Algoa Bay Algoa Bay is a maritime bay in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. It is located in the east coast, east of the Cape of Good Hope. Algoa Bay is bounded in the west by Cape Recife and in the east by Cape Padrone. The bay is up to deep. The harbour c ...

Orbit and classification

''Algoa'' orbits the Sun in the

inner Interior may refer to: Arts and media * ''Interior'' (Degas) (also known as ''The Rape''), painting by Edgar Degas * ''Interior'' (play), 1895 play by Belgian playwright Maurice Maeterlinck * ''The Interior'' (novel), by Lisa See * Interior de ...

main-belt at a distance of 2.3–2.6 AU once every 3 years and 10 months (1,391 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.08 and an inclination of 3 ° with respect to the ecliptic. Prior to its discovery observation in 1936, ''Algoa'' was identified as and at

Lowell Observatory Lowell Observatory is an astronomical observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, United States. Lowell Observatory was established in 1894, placing it among the oldest observatories in the United States, and was designated a National Historic Landmark ...

and

Uccle Observatory The Royal Observatory of Belgium (french: link=no, Observatoire Royal de Belgique, nl, Koninklijke Sterrenwacht van België), has been situated in the Uccle municipality of Brussels (Belgium) since 1890. It was first established in Saint-Josse ...

, respectively. These observations, however, remained unused to extend the body's observation arc.

Physical characteristics

In 2012, two rotational lightcurves of ''Algoa'' were obtained at the U.S. Etscorn Observatory, New Mexico, and at the Riverland Dingo Observatory, Australia. They gave a well-defined, concurring

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 2.768 hours with a brightness variation of 0.20 and 0.21 magnitude, respectively (). The ''Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link'' assumes a standard albedo for stony S-type asteroids of 0.20, and calculates a diameter of 14.2 kilometers with an absolute magnitude of 11.6.

Naming

This minor planet was named after the historical

, located approximately 700 kilometers east of the

Cape of Good Hope The Cape of Good Hope ( af, Kaap die Goeie Hoop ) ;''Kaap'' in isolation: pt, Cabo da Boa Esperança is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa. A common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is t ...

, South Africa. The official was published by the

Minor Planet Center The Minor Planet Center (MPC) is the official body for observing and reporting on minor planets under the auspices of the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Founded in 1947, it operates at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. Function ...

in April 1953 ().

References

External links

Asteroid Lightcurve Database (LCDB)
query form

)
Dictionary of Minor Planet Names
Google books

– Observatoire de Genève, Raoul Behrend

– Minor Planet Center * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Algoa 001394 Discoveries by Cyril Jackson (astronomer) Named minor planets 19360612