14436 Morishita, provisional designation , is a stony background

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. ...

and exceptionally slow rotator from the middle region of the

asteroid belt The asteroid belt is a torus-shaped region in the Solar System, located roughly between the orbits of the planets Jupiter and Mars. It contains a great many solid, irregularly shaped bodies, of many sizes, but much smaller than planets, called ...

, approximately 5 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 23 March 1992, by Japanese astronomers Kin Endate and

Kazuro Watanabe is a Japanese amateur astronomer and prolific discoverer of minor planets. He was born in Hokkaidō, Japan and is a member of the ''Astronomical Society of Japan'' as well as of the ''Oriental Astronomical Association''. Through publications ...

at Kitami Observatory in Japan, and named after amateur astronomer

Yoko Morishita Yoko Morishita (森下洋子 ''Morishita Yoko'', born in Hiroshima December 7, 1948) is a Japanese ballerina for Matsuyama Ballet Company. Career Morishita started ballet at the age of three. She moved to Tokyo to start her ballet life in 1963 ...

Orbit and classification

''Morishita'' is a S-type asteroid that orbits the Sun in the

central Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...

main-belt at a distance of 2.0–3.2 AU once every 4 years and 2 months (1,508 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.22 and an inclination of 2 ° with respect to the ecliptic. As no precoveries were taken, and no prior identifications were made, the body's observation arc begins with its official discovery observation.

Photometry

In October 2010, a rotational lightcurve of ''Morishita'' was obtained from photometric observations at the

Palomar Transient Factory The Palomar Transient Factory (PTF, obs. code: I41), was an astronomical survey using a wide-field survey camera designed to search for optical transient and variable sources such as variable stars, supernovae, asteroids and comets. The projec ...

in California. Lightcurve analysis gave an exceptionally long

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 972.8 hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.82 magnitude, indicative for a non-spheroidal shape ().

Diameter and albedo

According to the survey carried out by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent NEOWISE mission, ''Morishita'' measures 5.656 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo of 0.152, while the ''Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link'' assumes a standard albedo for stony asteroids of 0.20 and calculates a shorter diameter of 3.49 kilometers.

Naming

This minor planet was named for Yoko Morishita (born 1947), amateur astronomer and supporter of the Astronomical Society of Shikoku, where she has made many contributions to further the spread of astronomical awareness. The approved naming citation 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 ...

on 25 April 2013 ().

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:Morishita 014436 Discoveries by Kin Endate Discoveries by Kazuro Watanabe Named minor planets 014436 19920323