611 Valeria is a
minor planet
According to the International Astronomical Union (IAU), a minor planet is an astronomical object in direct orbit around the Sun that is exclusively classified as neither a planet nor a comet. Before 2006, the IAU officially used the term ''minor ...
orbiting the
Sun
The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect ball of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core. The Sun radiates this energy mainly as light, ultraviolet, and infrared radi ...
that was discovered by American astronomer
Joel Hastings Metcalf
Joel Hastings Metcalf (January 4, 1866 – February 23, 1925) was an American astronomer, humanitarian and Minister (Christianity), minister.
Reverend Metcalf graduated from Harvard Divinity School in 1892. He served as a Unitarianism, Unitarian ...
on September 24, 1906, from
Taunton, Massachusetts
Taunton is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Bristol County. Taunton is situated on the Taunton River which winds its way through the city on its way to Mount ...
.
The name may have been inspired by the asteroid's provisional designation ''1906 VL''.
observations of this asteroid at the Organ Mesa Observatory in
Las Cruces, New Mexico
Las Cruces (; "the crosses") is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New Mexico and the seat of Doña Ana County. As of the 2020 census the population was 111,385. Las Cruces is the largest city in both Doña Ana County and southern New ...
, during 2012 gave a
light curve
In astronomy, a light curve is a graph of light intensity of a celestial object or region as a function of time, typically with the magnitude of light received on the y axis and with time on the x axis. The light is usually in a particular frequ ...
with a period of 6.977 ± 0.001 hours and a brightness variation of 0.08 ± 0.01 in
magnitude
Magnitude may refer to:
Mathematics
*Euclidean vector, a quantity defined by both its magnitude and its direction
*Magnitude (mathematics), the relative size of an object
*Norm (mathematics), a term for the size or length of a vector
*Order of ...
. This result is consistent with a previous study from 2008.
References
External links
Lightcurve plot of (611) Valeria Antelope Hills Observatory
*
*
Background asteroids
Valeria
Valeria
S-type asteroids (Tholen)
L-type asteroids (SMASS)
19060924
{{beltasteroid-stub