6793 Palazzolo, provisional designation , is a stony

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 9 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 30 December 1991, by Italian amateur astronomers

Ulisse Quadri This is a list of minor-planet discoverers credited by the Minor Planet Center with the discovery of one or several minor planets (such as near-Earth and main-belt asteroids, Jupiter trojans and distant objects). , the discovery of 612,011 nu ...

and

Luca Strabla This is a list of minor-planet discoverers credited by the Minor Planet Center with the discovery of one or several minor planets (such as near-Earth and main-belt asteroids, Jupiter trojans and distant objects). , the discovery of 612,011 numb ...

at the

Bassano Bresciano Observatory Bassano Bresciano (Brescian: ) is a ''comune'' in the province of Brescia, in Lombardy. As of 2011 Bassano Bresciano had a population of 2,237. Observatory The private Bassano Bresciano Observatory or Astronomical Observatory of Bassano Bresc ...

in northern Italy. The asteroid was named after the Italian city of

Palazzolo sull'Oglio Palazzolo sull'Oglio (Brescian and Bergamasque: ; locally ) is a city and ''comune'' in the Province of Brescia, in the region of Lombardy in northern Italy. It is located south of Lake Iseo, bordering the Province of Bergamo, and has a population ...

Orbit and classification

''Palazzolo'' 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 2.3–3.1 AU once every 4 years and 5 months (1,603 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.16 and an

inclination Orbital inclination measures the tilt of an object's orbit around a celestial body. It is expressed as the angle between a Plane of reference, reference plane and the orbital plane or Axis of rotation, axis of direction of the orbiting object ...

of 5 ° with respect to the ecliptic. In 1982, the asteroid was first identified as at

Crimea–Nauchnij The Crimean Astrophysical Observatory (CrAO, obs. code: 095) is located at Nauchnij research campus, near the Central Crimean city of Bakhchysarai, on the Crimean peninsula. CrAO is often called simply by its location and campus name, ...

. Its

observation arc In observational astronomy, the observation arc (or arc length) of a Solar System body is the time period between its earliest and latest observations, used for tracing the body's path. It is usually given in days or years. The term is mostly use ...

begins 1990, with its identification as at ESO's La Silla Observatory, 1 year prior to its official discovery observation at Bassano Bresciano.

Physical characteristics

''Palazzolo'' is an assumed

S-type asteroid S-type asteroids are asteroids with a spectral type that is indicative of a siliceous (i.e. stony) mineralogical composition, hence the name. They have relatively high density. Approximately 17% of asteroids are of this type, making it the second ...

Rotation period

In 2012, a rotational lightcurve of ''Palazzolo'' was obtained from photometric observations at the

Palomar Transient Factory The Palomar Transient Factory (PTF, obs. code: I41), was an astronomical survey using a wide-field survey camera designed to search for optical transient and variable sources such as variable stars, supernovae, asteroids and comets. The projec ...

in California. Lightcurve analysis gave a

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 amplitude of 0.16 in magnitude (). Follow-up observations in 2013 and 2014, gave a similar period of and hours with an amplitude of 0.16 and 0.14, respectively ().

Diameter and albedo

According to the survey carried out by the NEOWISE mission of NASA's space-based

Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE, observatory code C51, Explorer 92 and SMEX-6) is a NASA infrared astronomy space telescope in the Explorers Program. It was launched in December 2009, and placed in hibernation mode in February 2011, ...

, ''Palazzolo'' has a diameter of 9.9 kilometers and an

albedo Albedo (; ) is the measure of the diffuse reflection of sunlight, solar radiation out of the total solar radiation and measured on a scale from 0, corresponding to a black body that absorbs all incident radiation, to 1, corresponding to a body ...

of 0.083, while the ''Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link'' assumes an albedo of 0.10 and calculates a diameter of 8.0 kilometers.

Naming

This

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 ...

is named after the Italian city of

, located between Brescia and Bergamo, in northern parts of the country. Known for its industries, including the first Italian factories producing cement and buttons, the city is now famous for its of spinning machines and zippers. It was founded on the banks of river

Oglio The Oglio (; Latin ''Ollius'', or ''Olius''; Lombard ''Òi''; Cremonese ''Ùi'') is a left-side tributary of the river Po in Lombardy, Italy. It is long. In the hierarchy of the Po's tributaries, with its of length, it occupies the 2nd pla ...

, with archaeological findings dating back to the Roman era. 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 April 1996 ().

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:Palazzolo 006793 006793 006793 Named minor planets 19911230