24260 Kriváň (
provisional 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 The provisional designation is usually superseded by a permanent designation once a reliable orbit has been calcu ...
) is a stony Eunomian
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 middle region of the
asteroid belt, approximately 8 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered by
Slovak astronomer
Peter Kušnirák
Peter Kušnirák (born 1974) is a Slovakia, Slovak astronomer, discoverer of minor planets, and a prolific Photometry (astronomy), photometrist of light-curves at Ondřejov Observatory in the Czech Republic. He was married to Slovak astronomer Ulr ...
at the
Czech Ondřejov Observatory
The Ondřejov Observatory (; cs, Observatoř Ondřejov) is the principal observatory of the Astronomical Institute () of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic. It is located near the village of Ondřejov, southeast of Prague, Czech R ...
on 13 December 1999, and named after the
Kriváň Kriváň can refer to:
* Kriváň (peak), peak in the High Tatras, Slovakia
* Veľký Kriváň, the highest peak in Malá Fatra, Slovakia
* Kriváň (village)
Kriváň ( hu, Krivány) is a village and municipality in Detva District, in the Banskà ...
mountain peak in Slovakia.
Orbit and classification
The asteroid is a member of the
Eunomia family The Eunomia or Eunomian family () is a large asteroid family of S-type asteroids named after the asteroid 15 Eunomia. It is the most prominent family in the intermediate asteroid belt and the 6th-largest family with nearly six thousand known members ...
, a large group of stony
S-type asteroids and the most prominent family in the intermediate main-belt. 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 ...
main-belt at a distance of 2.3–2.9
AU once every 4 years and 2 months (1,530 days). Its orbit has an
eccentricity of 0.13 and an
inclination of 14
° with respect to the
ecliptic.
The first
precovery
In astronomy, precovery (short for pre-discovery recovery) is the process of finding the image of an object in images or photographic plates predating its discovery, typically for the purpose of calculating a more accurate orbit. This happens mos ...
was taken at the Australian
Siding Spring Observatory
Siding Spring Observatory near Coonabarabran, New South Wales, Australia, part of the Research School of Astronomy & Astrophysics (RSAA) at the Australian National University (ANU), incorporates the Anglo-Australian Telescope along with a coll ...
in 1976, extending the asteroid's
observation arc by 23 years prior to its discovery.
Physical characteristics
In December 2011, a rotational
light curve was obtained for this asteroid from photometric observation by U.S. astronomer James W. Brinsfield at the Via Observatory in Thousand Oaks, California. It gave a well-defined
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 hours with a brightness variation of 0.42 in
magnitude ().
According to the survey carried out by the
NEOWISE mission of NASA's
Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, the asteroid measures 8.3 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an
albedo of 0.28,
while the ''Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link'' assumes a standard albedo of 0.21 – derived from
15 Eunomia
Eunomia (minor planet designation 15 Eunomia) is a very large asteroid in the inner asteroid belt. It is the largest of the stony ( S-type) asteroids, with 3 Juno as a close second. It is quite a massive asteroid, in 6th to 8th place (to within ...
, the family's largest member and namesake – and calculates a diameter of 8.4 kilometers with an
absolute magnitude of 12.7.
Naming
This
minor planet was named after the
Kriváň mountain (), located in the
High Tatras of Slovakia. It is considered to be the country's most beautiful peak and one of its national symbols.
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 4 August 2001 ().
References
External links
Asteroid Lightcurve Database (LCDB) query form
)
Dictionary of Minor Planet Names Google books
– Observatoire de Genève, Raoul Behrend
– Minor Planet Center
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Krivan
024260
Discoveries by Peter Kušnirák
Named minor planets
19991213