1450 Raimonda, provisional designation , is a 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. ...

from the central regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 15 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 20 February 1938, by astronomer Yrjö Väisälä at the

Iso-Heikkilä Observatory Iso-Heikkilä Observatory ( fi, Iso-Heikkilän tähtitorni, sv, Storheikkilä observatorium) is an amateur astronomical observatory used by a local amateur astronomical association, Turun Ursa ry in the Iso-Heikkilä district of Turku, Finl ...

in Turku, Finland. The asteroid was named after Dutch astronomer Jean Jacques Raimond, Jr.

Orbit and classification

''Raimonda'' is a non-

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

asteroid of the main belt's background population. It 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 ...

asteroid belt at a distance of 2.2–3.1 AU once every 4 years and 3 months (1,542 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.17 and an

inclination Orbital inclination measures the tilt of an object's orbit around a celestial body. It is expressed as the angle between a Plane of reference, reference plane and the orbital plane or Axis of rotation, axis of direction of the orbiting object ...

of 5 ° with respect to the ecliptic. The body's

observation arc In observational astronomy, the observation arc (or arc length) of a Solar System body is the time period between its earliest and latest observations, used for tracing the body's path. It is usually given in days or years. The term is mostly use ...

begins with its first identification as at

Heidelberg Observatory Heidelberg (; Palatine German: ') is a city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914, of which roughly a quarter consisted of students. ...

in October 1915, more than 22 years prior to its official discovery observation at Turku.

Physical characteristics

''Raimonda'' is an assumed stony

S-type asteroid S-type asteroids are asteroids with a spectral type that is indicative of a siliceous (i.e. stony) mineralogical composition, hence the name. They have relatively high density. Approximately 17% of asteroids are of this type, making it the second ...

, despite its rather low albedo.

Rotation period and poles

In December 2004, a rotational lightcurve of ''Raimonda'' was obtained from photometric observations at the Oakley () and Tenagra Observatory (). 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 12.66 hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.64 (or 0.57 at LCDB) magnitude (), indicative of an elongated shape. In 2013, a lightcurve was modeled from photometric data collected by the Uppsala Asteroid Photometric Catalogue, 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 ...

survey, and individual observers, as well as sparse-in-time photometry from the

United States Naval Observatory Flagstaff Station The United States Naval Observatory Flagstaff Station (NOFS), is an astronomical observatory near Flagstaff, Arizona, US. It is the national dark-sky observing facility under the United States Naval Observatory (USNO). NOFS and USNO combine ...

, the Catalina Sky Survey in Tucson, and the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory at La Palma. Modelling gave a similar period 12.6344 hours. The study also determined two spin axis of (231.0°, −56.0°) and (71.0°, −60.0°) in ecliptic coordinates (λ, β).

Diameter and albedo

According to the surveys carried out by the Infrared Astronomical Satellite

IRAS The Infrared Astronomical Satellite (Dutch: ''Infrarood Astronomische Satelliet'') (IRAS) was the first space telescope to perform a survey of the entire night sky at infrared wavelengths. Launched on 25 January 1983, its mission lasted ten mo ...

, the Japanese Akari satellite and the NEOWISE mission of NASA's

Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE, observatory code C51, Explorer 92 and SMEX-6) is a NASA infrared astronomy space telescope in the Explorers Program. It was launched in December 2009, and placed in hibernation mode in February 2011, ...

, ''Raimonda'' measures between 14.76 and 20.80 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an

albedo Albedo (; ) is the measure of the diffuse reflection of sunlight, solar radiation out of the total solar radiation and measured on a scale from 0, corresponding to a black body that absorbs all incident radiation, to 1, corresponding to a body ...

between 0.074 and 0.1387. The ''Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link'' derives an albedo of 0.0976 and a diameter of 14.75 kilometers based on an

absolute magnitude Absolute magnitude () is a measure of the luminosity of a celestial object on an inverse Logarithmic scale, logarithmic Magnitude (astronomy), astronomical magnitude scale. An object's absolute magnitude is defined to be equal to the apparent mag ...

of 12.3.

Naming

This

minor planet According to the International Astronomical Union (IAU), a minor planet is an astronomical object in direct orbit around the Sun that is exclusively classified as neither a planet nor a comet. Before 2006, the IAU officially used the term ''minor ...

was named after Jean Jacques Raimond, Jr. (1903–1961), a Dutch astronomer who was the president of the Dutch Astronomical Society ( nl, Nederlandse Vereniging voor Weer- en Sterrenkunde; Netherlands Association for Meteorology and Astronomy) and director of the Zeiss planetarium at The Hague. The naming was suggested by Belgian astronomer

Jean Meeus Jean Meeus (born 12 December 1928) is a Belgian meteorologist and amateur astronomer specializing in celestial mechanics, spherical astronomy, and mathematical astronomy. Meeus studied mathematics at the University of Leuven in Belgium, wh ...

, and 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 ...

on 1 February 1965 (). The lunar crater '' Raimond'' was also named in his honor.

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:Raimonda 001450 Discoveries by Yrjö Väisälä Named minor planets 19380220