5011 Ptah (; '' prov. designation:'' ) is a near-Earth object and

potentially hazardous asteroid A potentially hazardous object (PHO) is a near-Earth object – either an asteroid or a comet – with an orbit that can make close approaches to the Earth and is large enough to cause significant regional damage in the event of impact. They are ...

of the

Apollo group Apollo Education Group, Inc. is an American corporation based in the South Phoenix area of Phoenix, Arizona, with an additional corporate office in Chicago, Illinois. The company owns and operates several higher-learning institutions, including ...

. It was discovered by astronomers with the Palomar–Leiden survey on 24 September 1960. The rare O-type asteroid on an eccentric orbit measures approximately in diameter. It was named after the Ancient Egyptian deity Ptah.

Discovery

''Ptah'' was discovered on 24 September 1960, by Dutch astronomers Ingrid van Houten-Groeneveld, Ingrid and Cornelis van Houten at Leiden, on photographic plates taken by Dutch–American astronomer Tom Gehrels at the Palomar Observatory in California. On the same night, the trio of astronomers also discovered the minor planets 1912 Anubis, 1923 Osiris and 1924 Horus, which were also named after Ancient Egyptian deities.

Palomar–Leiden survey

The survey designation "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 plates to Ingrid and Cornelis van Houten at Leiden Observatory where astrometry was carried out. The trio are credited with the discovery of several thousand minor planets.

Naming

This minor planet was named for the Egyptian creator deity Ptah. In Egyptian mythology, he is the creator of the universe and god of craftsmen and architects. The deity was generally represented in a human form with a Was-sceptre, sceptre and an ankh. The approved naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 16 May 1992 ().

Classification and orbit

''Ptah'' orbits the Sun at a distance of 0.8–2.5 Astronomical unit, AU once every 2 years and 1 month (764 days). Its orbit has an orbital eccentricity, eccentricity of 0.50 and an orbital inclination, inclination of 7Degree (angle), ° with respect to the ecliptic. As no precoveries were taken, the asteroid's observation arc begins with its official discovery observation at Palomar. The

has a minimum orbit intersection distance with Earth of or 10 Lunar distance (astronomy), lunar distances. It passes within that distance of Earth 15 times between 1900 and 2100, most recently on 21 January 2007, at 29.6 Gm. The next time will be in 2027 at 28.6 Gm. Due to its high eccentricity, ''Ptah'' is also a Mars-crosser.

Physical characteristics

According to the "ExploreNEOs" Warm Spitzer program, ''Ptah'' is a rare Q-type asteroid, that belongs to the broader S-type asteroid, S-group of asteroids. The ''Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link'' assumes a standard astronomical albedo, albedo for stony asteroids of 0.20, and calculates a mean diameter of 1.6 kilometers using an absolute magnitude of 16.4. As of 2017, no rotational lightcurves have been obtained of ''Ptah'', and its rotation period, period and shape, as well as its Asteroid spectral type, spectral type remains unknown.

References

External links

Asteroid Lightcurve Database (LCDB)
query form

)
Dictionary of Minor Planet Names
Google books

– Observatoire de Genève, Raoul Behrend * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ptah Apollo asteroids, 005011 Potentially hazardous asteroids, 005011 Discoveries by the Palomar–Leiden survey, 6743 Discoveries by Cornelis Johannes van Houten Discoveries by Ingrid van Houten-Groeneveld Discoveries by Tom Gehrels Named minor planets Astronomical objects discovered in 1960, 19600924 Ptah