844 Leontina, provisional designation 1916 AP, 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 outer region of the asteroid belt, about 36 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 1 October 1916, by Austrian astronomer Joseph Rheden at

Vienna Observatory The Vienna Observatory (german: Universitätssternwarte Wien) is an astronomical observatory in Vienna, Austria. It is part of the University of Vienna. The first observatory was built in 1753–1754 on the roof of one of the university buildings ...

, Austria.

Description

''Leontina'' is an

X-type asteroid The X-group of asteroids collects together several types with similar spectra, but probably quite different compositions. Tholen classification In the Tholen classification the X-group consists of the following types: * E-type – with high al ...

in the

SMASS classification An asteroid spectral type is assigned to asteroids based on their emission spectrum, color, and sometimes albedo. These types are thought to correspond to an asteroid's surface composition. For small bodies that are not internally differentiat ...

. It orbits the Sun at a distance of 3.0–3.4 AU once every 5 years and 9 months (2,097 days). Its orbit is tilted by 9 degrees to the plane of the ecliptic and shows an eccentricity of 0.07. Multiple

lightcurve 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 ...

analysis rendered a well-defined, concurring

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 6.79 hours. According to the surveys carried out by the Japanese Akari satellite and the U.S.

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, ...

with its subsequent

NEOWISE 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, ...

mission, measurements of the body's brightness gave a divergent

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 0.13, 0.20 and 0.31, respectively. As a result, the asteroid's estimated diameter strongly varies between 28 and 40 kilometers. The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link (CALL) considers Akari's albedo-figure of 0.20 the most accurate one and consequently assumes the otherwise classified X-type body to be of a stony surface composition with a calculated diameter of 36 kilometers. 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 ...

was named by the discoverer for his home town

Lienz Lienz (; Southern Bavarian: ''Lianz'') is a Town privileges, medieval town in the Austrian state of Tyrol (state), Tyrol. It is the administrative centre of the Lienz (district), Lienz district, which covers all of East Tyrol. The municipality a ...

in East Tyrol, Austria.

References

External links

The Asteroid Veritas: An intruder in a family named after it?

Asteroid Lightcurve Database (LCDB)
query form

)
Dictionary of Minor Planet Names
Google books

– Observatoire de Genève, Raoul Behrend

– Minor Planet Center * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Leontina 000844 Discoveries by Joseph Rheden Named minor planets 000844 19161001