1537 Transylvania, provisional designation , is a carbonaceous asteroid and long-
lost minor planet
A minor planet is "lost" when today's observers cannot find it, because its location is too uncertain to target observations. This happens if the orbital elements of a minor planet are not known accurately enough, typically because the observat ...
from the outer regions 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, c ...
, approximately 17 kilometers in diameter. Discovered by Gyula Strommer in 1940, it was later named after region of
Transylvania
Transylvania ( ro, Ardeal or ; hu, Erdély; german: Siebenbürgen) is a historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and south its natural border is the Carpathian Mountains, and to the west the Ap ...
, where the discoverer was born.
Discovery and rediscovery
''Transylvania'' was discovered on 27 August 1940, by Hungarian astronomer Gyula Strommer at the
Konkoly Observatory
Konkoly Observatory ( hu, Konkoly Thege Miklós Csillagászati Intézet; obs. code: 053) is an astronomical observatory located in Budapest, Hungary is part of the Research Centre for Astronomy and Earth Sciences ( hu, Csillagászati és ...
near Budapest, Hungary. Observations of the asteroid continued at Konkoly until February 1942. It became a
lost minor planet
A minor planet is "lost" when today's observers cannot find it, because its location is too uncertain to target observations. This happens if the orbital elements of a minor planet are not known accurately enough, typically because the observat ...
until Spring 1981, when astronomer Leif Kahl Kristensen at the
University of Aarhus
Aarhus University ( da, Aarhus Universitet, abbreviated AU) is a public research university with its main campus located in Aarhus, Denmark. It is the second largest and second oldest university in Denmark. The university is part of the Coimbra Gr ...
rediscovered it based on contemporary observations at Palomar Observatory.
Kristensen was able to show that ''Transylvania'' was first observed as at Heidelberg Observatory in October 1903, and, after its observations at Konkoly in the early 1940s, it was again observed at Goethe Link Observatory in December 1962, and at Palomar in February 1981.
Remaining lost minor planets
At the same time, Kristensen also rediscovered
452 Hamiltonia
Hamiltonia (minor planet designation: 452 Hamiltonia) is an asteroid. It was discovered by James Edward Keeler on 6 December 1899, but was then lost until 1981. Its provisional name was 1899 FD. The asteroid is named for Mount Hamilton (Californ ...
family
Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...