5040_Rabinowitz

5040 Rabinowitz

5040 Rabinowitz

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5040 Rabinowitz, provisional designation 1972 RF, is a stony Phocaea asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 6 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered by Dutch–American astronomer Tom Gehrels at Palomar Observatory on 15 September 1972.[8] Contrary to most of his discoveries, this asteroid is unrelated to the Palomar–Leiden survey and exclusively credited to Tom Gehrels.

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Orbit and classification

The stony S-type asteroid is a member of the Phocaea family (701), a group of asteroids with similar orbital characteristics, named after its largest member, 25 Phocaea.[4] It orbits the Sun in the inner main-belt at a distance of 1.9–3.0 AU once every 3 years and 9 months (1,373 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.23 and an inclination of 24° with respect to the ecliptic.[1] A first precovery was taken at the discovering observatory in 1971, extending the body's observation arc by one year prior to its official discovery observation.[8]

Physical characteristics

Rotation period

In July 2013, a rotational lightcurve for this asteroid was obtained from photometric observations by Czech astronomer Petr Pravec at the Ondřejov Observatory. The well-defined lightcurve gave a rotation period of 4.6901±0.0004 hours with a brightness variation of 0.33 in magnitude (U=3).[lower-alpha 1]

During the same opposition opportunity, two more lightcurves – obtained by Robert Stephens at the Center for Solar System Studies and by Maurice Clark at the Preston Gott Observatory – gave a similar period of 4.691 and 4.472 hours, with an amplitude of 0.35 and 0.31 in magnitude, respectively (U=3-/2+).[5][6]

Diameter and albedo

The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes an albedo of 0.23, derived from the Phocaea family's namesake, and calculates a diameter of 6.4 kilometers with an absolute magnitude of 13.18.[3]

Naming

This minor planet was named after American astronomer David Rabinowitz (born 1960), a discoverer of minor planets himself and researcher at Yale University. The naming also honors his work for the Spacewatch program.[2] The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 1 September 1993 (M.P.C. 22505).[9]

Notes

  1. Pravec (2013): lightcurve plot of (5040) Rabinowitz with a rotation period 4.6901±0.0004 hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.33 mag and an abs. magnitude of 12.73. Summary figures at Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link (CALL) and Pravec, P.; Wolf, M.; Sarounova, L. (2013)

References

  1. [1]
    "JPL Small-Body Database Browser: 5040 Rabinowitz (1972 RF)" (2017-06-04 last obs.). Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved 20 June 2017.
  2. [2]
    Schmadel, Lutz D. (2007). "(5040) Rabinowitz". Dictionary of Minor Planet Names – (5040) Rabinowitz. Springer Berlin Heidelberg. p. 434. doi:10.1007/978-3-540-29925-7_4907. ISBN 978-3-540-00238-3.
  3. [3]
    "LCDB Data for (5040) Rabinowitz". Asteroid Lightcurve Database (LCDB). Retrieved 1 July 2016.
  4. [4]
    "Asteroid 5040 Rabinowitz – Nesvorny HCM Asteroid Families V3.0". Small Bodies Data Ferret. Retrieved 27 October 2019.
  5. [5]
    Clark, Maurice (April 2014). "Asteroid Photometry from the Preston Gott Observatory". The Minor Planet Bulletin. 41 (2): 100–101. Bibcode:2014MPBu...41..100C. ISSN 1052-8091. Retrieved 1 July 2016.
  6. [6]
    Stephens, Robert D.; Coley, Daniel R. (October 2013). "A Plethora of Phocaea Asteroids". The Minor Planet Bulletin. 40 (4): 203–204. Bibcode:2013MPBu...40..203S. ISSN 1052-8091. Retrieved 1 July 2016.
  7. [7]
    Veres, Peter; Jedicke, Robert; Fitzsimmons, Alan; Denneau, Larry; Granvik, Mikael; Bolin, Bryce; et al. (November 2015). "Absolute magnitudes and slope parameters for 250,000 asteroids observed by Pan-STARRS PS1 - Preliminary results". Icarus. 261: 34–47. arXiv:1506.00762. Bibcode:2015Icar..261...34V. doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2015.08.007. Retrieved 1 July 2016.
  8. [8]
    "5040 Rabinowitz (1972 RF)". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 1 July 2016.
  9. [9]
    "MPC/MPO/MPS Archive". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 1 July 2016.
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