1846 Bengt, provisional designation , is a dark

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 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 ...

regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 11 kilometers in diameter. Discovered by the Palomar–Leiden survey in 1960, it was named for Danish astronomer

Bengt Strömgren Bengt Georg Daniel Strömgren (21 January 1908 – 4 July 1987) was a Danish astronomer and astrophysicist. Life and career Bengt Strömgren was born in Gothenburg. His parents were Hedvig Strömgren (née Lidforss) and Elis Strömgren, wh ...

Discovery

''Bengt'' was discovered on 24 September 1960, by Dutch astronomer couple Ingrid and Cornelis van Houten in collaboration with Tom Gehrels, who took the photographic plates at

Palomar Observatory Palomar Observatory is an astronomical research observatory in San Diego County, California, United States, in the Palomar Mountain Range. It is owned and operated by the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). Research time at the observat ...

in California. The

survey designation Provisional designation in astronomy is the naming convention applied to astronomical objects immediately following their discovery. The provisional designation is usually superseded by a permanent designation once a reliable orbit has been calcu ...

"P-L" stands for ''Palomar–Leiden'', named after Palomar Observatory and Leiden Observatory, which collaborated on the fruitful Palomar–Leiden survey in the 1960s. Gehrels used Palomar's Samuel Oschin telescope (also known as the 48-inch Schmidt Telescope), and shipped the

photographic plate Photographic plates preceded photographic film as a capture medium in photography, and were still used in some communities up until the late 20th century. The light-sensitive emulsion of silver salts was coated on a glass plate, typically thinn ...

s to Ingrid and Cornelis van Houten at Leiden Observatory where

astrometry Astrometry is a branch of astronomy that involves precise measurements of the positions and movements of stars and other celestial bodies. It provides the kinematics and physical origin of the Solar System and this galaxy, the Milky Way. His ...

was carried out. The trio are credited with several thousand asteroid discoveries. The asteroid was first identified as at McDonald Observatory in 1951. The observation arc starts 3 years prior to its official discovery observation, with its first used identification made at Goethe Link Observatory in 1957.

Orbit and classification

''Bengt'' orbits the Sun in the

main-belt at a distance of 2.0–2.7 AU once every 3 years and 7 months (1,306 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.14 and an inclination of 3 ° with respect to the ecliptic.

Physical characteristics

Based on preliminary results by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent NEOWISE mission, ''Bengt'' measures 10.998 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo of 0.047, which is typical for carbonaceous

C-type asteroids C-type (carbonaceous) asteroids are the most common variety, forming around 75% of known asteroids. They are volatile-rich and distinguished by a very low albedo because their composition includes a large amount of carbon, in addition to rock ...

. As of 2017, no rotational lightcurve has been obtained.

Naming

This minor planet was named after renowned Danish astronomer

(1908–1987), on the occasion of his 70th birthday. He was an authority in the field of stellar structure and

stellar evolution Stellar evolution is the process by which a star changes over the course of time. Depending on the mass of the star, its lifetime can range from a few million years for the most massive to trillions of years for the least massive, which is cons ...

, director of the Yerkes Observatory from 1951 to 1957, and president of the International Astronomical Union (1970–1973). 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 November 1978 ().

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:Bengt 001846 6553 Discoveries by Cornelis Johannes van Houten Discoveries by Ingrid van Houten-Groeneveld Discoveries by Tom Gehrels Named minor planets 19600924