51826 Kalpanachawla ( provisional designation ) is an Eoan

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. ...

in the outer region of the asteroid belt, approximately 7 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 19 July 2001, by astronomers of the Near-Earth Asteroid Tracking program 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, United States. The asteroid was named for Indo-American astronaut and mission specialist Kalpana Chawla, who died in the Space Shuttle ''Columbia'' disaster.

Orbit and classification

Kalpanachawla is a member the

Eos family The Eos family (''adj. Eoan'' ; ) is a very large asteroid family located in the outer region of the asteroid belt. The family of K-type asteroids is believed to have formed as a result of an ancient catastrophic collision. The family's parent body ...

(), the largest family in the outer asteroid belt consisting of nearly 10,000 asteroids. It orbits the Sun in the outer asteroid belt at a distance of 2.8–3.3 AU once every 5 years and 5 months (1,968 days;

semi-major axis In geometry, the major axis of an ellipse is its longest diameter: a line segment that runs through the center and both foci, with ends at the two most widely separated points of the perimeter. The semi-major axis (major semiaxis) is the long ...

of 3.07 AU). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.09 and an inclination of 10 ° with respect to the ecliptic. The body's observation arc begins with a

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 ...

taken by Spacewatch at Kitt Peak Observatory in April 1994, more than 7 years prior to its official discovery observation at Palomar.

Physical characteristics

The asteroid's spectral type is unknown. Members of the

are typically

K-type asteroid K-type asteroids are relatively uncommon asteroids with a moderately reddish spectrum shortwards of 0.75 μm, and a slight bluish trend longwards of this. They have a low albedo. Their spectrum resembles that of CV and CO meteorites. A larger K ty ...

Diameter and albedo

According to the survey carried out by the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, Kalpanachawla measures 6.947 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo of 0.160.

Rotation period

As of 2017, no rotational lightcurve of Kalpanachawla has been obtained from photometric observations. The asteroid's

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 ...

, poles and shape remain unknown.

Naming

This minor planet was named after Indo-American astronaut and mission specialist Kalpana Chawla, who died in the Space Shuttle ''Columbia'' disaster on 1 February 2003. 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 6 August 2003 (). The following asteroids were also named in memory of the other six members of STS-107: 51823 Rickhusband, 51824 Mikeanderson, 51825 Davidbrown, 51827 Laurelclark, 51828 Ilanramon and 51829 Williemccool.

References

External links

NASA JPL - Space Shuttle Columbia Tribute page

Asteroid Lightcurve Database (LCDB)
query form

)
Dictionary of Minor Planet Names
Google books

– Observatoire de Genève, Raoul Behrend

– Minor Planet Center * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kalpanachawla 051826 051826 Named minor planets Kalpana Chawla 20010719