1412 Lagrula, provisional designation , is an

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 7 or 23 kilometers in diameter, depending on the body's divergent reflectivity measurements. It was discovered on 19 January 1937, by French astronomer Louis Boyer at the North African Algiers Observatory in Algeria. It was later named after French astronomer Philippe Lagrula.

Classification and orbit

''Lagrula'' is a presumed member of the Flora family, a large group of stony S-type asteroids in the inner main-belt. It orbits the Sun at a distance of 2.0–2.5 AU once every 3 years and 4 months (1,204 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.11 and an inclination of 5 ° with respect to the ecliptic. First identified as 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 ...

in 1929, the body's observation arc was extended by 8 years prior to its official discovery observation at Algiers.

Physical characteristics

Photometry

During March and April 2013, photometric observations of ''Lagrula'' were made over ten nights by Italian astronomer Giovanni Casalnuovo at Eurac Observatory () in Bolzano, Italy. Lightcurve analysis gave a

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 5.9176 hours and a brightness variation of 0.28 magnitude (). In January 2016, a more refined period of 5.882 hours with an amplitude of 0.44 magnitude was obtained from a bimodal lightcurve by Spanish astronomer group OBAS, ''Observadores de Asteroides'' ().

Diameter and albedo

According to the survey carried out by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent NEOWISE mission, ''Lagrula'' measures 7.8 kilometers in diameter, and its surface has an albedo of 0.318 and 0.36, respectively (most recent results only). However, the ''Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link'' assumes a carbonaceous albedo of 0.058 and calculates a diameter of 23.98 kilometers, which is in agreement with Giovanni Casalnuovo, who published a diameter of and an albedo of 0.06 using an absolute magnitude of 11.81. Casalnuovo assumed a C-type, rather than an S-type, because he found an average V–R color index of magnitude.

Naming

This minor planet was named after French astronomer

Joanny-Philippe Lagrula Joanny-Philippe Lagrula (1870–1941) was a French astronomer. He was sometimes referred to as Philippe Lagrula. In 1901, he wrote his thesis at the University of Lyon. At the time, occultations of the Pleiades by the Moon were important for m ...

(1870–1941), discoverer of the minor planet 775 Lumière and director of the

Quito Astronomical Observatory The Quito Astronomical Observatory ( es, Observatorio Astronómico de Quito – OAQ) is a research institute of EPN, the National Polytechnic School in Quito, Ecuador. Its major research fields are astronomy and atmospheric physics. The Quito As ...

and Algiers Observatory. Naming citation was neither published in '' The Names of the Minor Planets'' nor in the ''

Minor Planet Circulars 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 ...

'', but researched and compiled by astronomer and author

Lutz D. Schmadel Lutz Dieter Schmadel (2 July 1942, in Berlin – 21 October 2016) was a German astronomer and a prolific discoverer of asteroids, who worked at the Astronomisches Rechen-Institut (ARI) of the University of Heidelberg. His special interest was th ...

, based on his private communications with his colleges ().

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:Lagrula 001412 Discoveries by Louis Boyer (astronomer) Named minor planets 19370119