4349 Tibúrcio, provisional designation , is a dark

asteroid An asteroid is a minor planet of the Solar System#Inner solar system, 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 o ...

from the central region of the asteroid belt, approximately 29 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 5 June 1989, by German astronomer

Werner Landgraf Werner Landgraf (born 29 July 1959, in Mainz) is a German astrophysicist and a discoverer of minor planets. Life W. Landgraf studied physics at the University of Siegen in 1977 and was working on his first astronomical projects. His earli ...

at ESO's La Silla Observatory in northern Chile. With 53.5 °, it had been the asteroid with the smallest angular distance from the Sun ever discovered. It was later named after Brazilian amateur astronomer Júlio Tibúrcio.

Orbit and classification

''Tibúrcio'' orbits the Sun in the central main-belt at a distance of 2.0–3.3 AU once every 4 years and 3 months (1,550 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.24 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 11 ° with respect to the

ecliptic The ecliptic or ecliptic plane is the orbital plane of the Earth around the Sun. From the perspective of an observer on Earth, the Sun's movement around the celestial sphere over the course of a year traces out a path along the ecliptic agai ...

. One day before its first identification as , 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 mo ...

was taken at

Lowell Observatory Lowell Observatory is an astronomical observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, United States. Lowell Observatory was established in 1894, placing it among the oldest observatories in the United States, and was designated a National Historic Landmark ...

in 1931, extending the body's

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 ...

by 58 years prior to its official discovery at La Silla.

Physical characteristics

The asteroid has been characterized as an X-type asteroid by Pan-STARRS large-scale photometric survey.

Rotation period

A rotational

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 ...

of ''Tibúrcio'' was obtained from photometric observations by astronomer David Higgins at the Australian Hunters Hill Observatory () in October 2010. Lightcurve analysis gave a well-defined

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 16.284 hours with a brightness variation of 0.40 magnitude ().

Diameter and albedo

According to the space-based surveys carried out by the Infrared Astronomical Satellite IRAS, the Japanese Akari satellite, and NASA'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 2 ...

with its

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 20 ...

mission, ''Tibúrcio'' measures between 24.9 and 30.23 kilometers in diameter, and its surface has a low

albedo Albedo (; ) is the measure of the diffuse reflection of 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 that refl ...

between 0.034 and 0.061. ''Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link'' assumes an albedo of 0.049 and calculates a diameter of 26.1 kilometers with an

absolute magnitude Absolute magnitude () is a measure of the luminosity of a celestial object on an inverse logarithmic astronomical magnitude scale. An object's absolute magnitude is defined to be equal to the apparent magnitude that the object would have if it we ...

of 11.8.

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 '' ...

was named after Brazilian amateur astronomer and student of information science, Júlio César dos Santos Tibúrcio. The official 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 8 June 1990 ().

Notes

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:Tiburcio 004349 Discoveries by Werner Landgraf Named minor planets 19890605