974 Lioba ('' prov. designation:'' ''or'' ) is a stony background asteroid from the central regions of the asteroid belt, approximately in diameter. It was discovered on 18 March 1922, by astronomer Karl Reinmuth at the Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory in southern Germany. The S-type asteroid has a longer than average

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 38.7 hours. It was named after missionary Saint

Leoba Leoba, OSB (also Lioba and Leofgyth) (c. 710 – 28 September 782) was an Anglo-Saxon Benedictine nun and is recognized as a saint. In 746 she and others left Wimborne Minster in Dorset to join her kinsman Boniface in his mission to the German ...

(Lioba).

Orbit and classification

''Lioba'' is a non- family asteroid of the main belt's background population when applying the hierarchical clustering method to its proper orbital elements. It 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 ...

asteroid belt at a distance of 2.3–2.8 AU once every 4.04 years (1,474 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 2.53 AU). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.11 and an inclination of 5 ° with respect to the ecliptic. The asteroid was first observed as () at the Heidelberg Observatory in March 1906, where the body's observation arc begins 16 years later, with its official discovery observation in March 1922.

Naming

This minor planet was named after Saint

(also Lioba) (c. 710–782), abbess in Tauberbischofsheim, Germany, who helped

Saint Boniface Boniface, OSB ( la, Bonifatius; 675 – 5 June 754) was an English Benedictines, Benedictine monk and leading figure in the Anglo-Saxon mission to the Germanic parts of the Frankish Empire during the eighth century. He organised significant ...

spreading Christianity throughout Germany. In 782, she was buried near Bonifatius in Fulda, Germany. The author of the ''Dictionary of Minor Planet Names'' confirmed the naming from private communications with Dutch astronomer Ingrid van Houten-Groeneveld, who worked as a young astronomer at Heidelberg.

Physical characteristics

In the Tholen classification, ''Lioba'' is a common stony S-type asteroid.

Rotation period

In May 1984, a rotational lightcurve of ''Lioba'' was obtained from photometric observations by American astronomer

Richard Binzel Richard "Rick" P. Binzel (born 1958) is an American astronomer and professor of planetary sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He is a discoverer of minor planets, photometrist and the inventor of the Torino Scale, a metho ...

during a survey of 130 asteroids at the University of Texas McDonald Observatory and Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory. Lightcurve analysis gave a well-defined, longer-than average

of 38.7 hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.37 magnitude (). In April 2007, a poorly rated period determination by French amateur astronomer René Roy gave or more ().

Diameter and albedo

According to the surveys carried out by the Infrared Astronomical Satellite IRAS, the Japanese Akari satellite and the NEOWISE mission of NASA's WISE telescope, ''Lioba'' measures between and kilometers in diameter and its surface has a high albedo between 0.16 and 0.40. The ''Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link'' derives an albedo of 0.3609 from the IRAS results, and calculates a diameter of 18.23 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 11.8.

References

External links

Lightcurve Database Query
(LCDB), at ''www.minorplanet.info''
Dictionary of Minor Planet Names
Google books

– '' Geneva Observatory'', Raoul Behrend
Discovery Circumstances: Numbered Minor Planets (1)-(5000)
– Minor Planet Center * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lioba 000974 Discoveries by Karl Wilhelm Reinmuth Named minor planets 000974 19220318