50719 Elizabethgriffin (provisional designation 2000 EG140) is a stony Maria asteroid and exceptionally slow rotator from the central region of the asteroid belt, approximately 3.3 kilometers (2.1 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 1 March 2000, by astronomers with the Catalina Sky Survey at Mount Lemmon Observatory, Arizona, United States. It was named for Canadian astronomer Elizabeth Griffin.[1]
| Discovery [1][2] | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | CSS |
| Discovery site | Mount Lemmon Obs. |
| Discovery date | 1 March 2000 |
| Designations | |
| (50719) Elizabethgriffin | |
Named after | Elizabeth Griffin (Canadian astronomer) |
| 2000 EG140 · 2001 MV3 | |
| main-belt · Maria [3][4] | |
| Orbital characteristics [2] | |
| Epoch 27 April 2019 (JD 2458600.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 0 | |
| Observation arc | 19.92 yr (7,276 d) |
| Aphelion | 2.9305 AU |
| Perihelion | 2.2365 AU |
| 2.5835 AU | |
| Eccentricity | 0.1343 |
| 4.15 yr (1,517 d) | |
| 73.206° | |
| 0° 14m 14.64s / day | |
| Inclination | 14.303° |
| 262.84° | |
| 30.265° | |
| Physical characteristics | |
| 3.307±0.134 km[5][6] | |
| 1256.0159±63.4351 h[7] | |
| 0.370±0.065[5][6] | |
| S [8] | |
| 14.1[5] 14.2[1][2] 14.204±0.004 (R)[7] | |
Classification and orbit
editThe stony S-type asteroid is a member of the Maria family (506),[3][4] located in the Eunomia region in the intermediate main-belt. It orbits the Sun in the central main-belt at a distance of 2.2–2.9 AU once every 4 years and 2 months (1,517 days; semi-major axis of 2.58 AU). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.13 and an inclination of 14° with respect to the ecliptic.[2] A first precovery was taken at Lowell Observatory (LONEOS) in 1998, extending the asteroid's observation arc by 2 years prior to its discovery.[1]
Numbering and naming
editThis minor planet was numbered by the Minor Planet Center on 20 November 2002.[9] It was named after Elizabeth Griffin (born 1942) a Canadian astronomer who studies binary stars spectroscopically. She has been an advocate for the preservation and digitization of astronomic photographic plates.[1] The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 6 April 2019 (M.P.C. 112432).[9]
Physical characteristics
editSlow rotator
editIn August 2010, a rotational lightcurve of Elizabethgriffin was obtained from photometric observations by astronomers at the Palomar Transient Factory in California. It gave an exceptionally long rotation period of 1256 hours with a brightness variation of 0.42 magnitude (U=2).[7] This makes the asteroid the 5th slowest rotating minor planet known to exist.
Diameter and albedo
editAccording to the surveys carried out by the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, Elizabethgriffin measures 3.3 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo of 0.37,[5][6] while the Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo for stony asteroids of 0.21 and calculates a diameter of 3.4 kilometers with an absolute magnitude of 14.65.[8]
References
edit- ^ a b c d e "50719 (2000 EG140)". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 9 April 2019.
- ^ a b c d "JPL Small-Body Database Browser: 50719 (2000 EG140)" (2018-09-17 last obs.). Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved 9 April 2019.
- ^ a b "Asteroid 50719 Elizabethgriffin". Small Bodies Data Ferret. Retrieved 9 April 2019.
- ^ a b "Asteroid (50719) Elizabethgriffin – Proper elements". AstDyS-2, Asteroids – Dynamic Site. Retrieved 9 April 2019.
- ^ a b c d Mainzer, A.; Grav, T.; Masiero, J.; Hand, E.; Bauer, J.; Tholen, D.; et al. (November 2011). "NEOWISE Studies of Spectrophotometrically Classified Asteroids: Preliminary Results". The Astrophysical Journal. 741 (2): 25. arXiv:1109.6407. Bibcode:2011ApJ...741...90M. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/741/2/90.
- ^ a b c Masiero, Joseph R.; Mainzer, A. K.; Grav, T.; Bauer, J. M.; Cutri, R. M.; Dailey, J.; et al. (November 2011). "Main Belt Asteroids with WISE/NEOWISE. I. Preliminary Albedos and Diameters". The Astrophysical Journal. 741 (2): 20. arXiv:1109.4096. Bibcode:2011ApJ...741...68M. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/741/2/68.
- ^ a b c Waszczak, Adam; Chang, Chan-Kao; Ofek, Eran O.; Laher, Russ; Masci, Frank; Levitan, David; et al. (September 2015). "Asteroid Light Curves from the Palomar Transient Factory Survey: Rotation Periods and Phase Functions from Sparse Photometry". The Astronomical Journal. 150 (3): 35. arXiv:1504.04041. Bibcode:2015AJ....150...75W. doi:10.1088/0004-6256/150/3/75.
- ^ a b "LCDB Data for (50719)". Asteroid Lightcurve Database (LCDB). Retrieved 3 September 2016.
- ^ a b "MPC/MPO/MPS Archive". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 9 April 2019.
External links
edit- Asteroid Lightcurve Database (LCDB), query form (info Archived 16 December 2017 at the Wayback Machine)
- Dictionary of Minor Planet Names, Google books
- Asteroids and comets rotation curves, CdR – Observatoire de Genève, Raoul Behrend
- Discovery Circumstances: Numbered Minor Planets (50001)-(55000) – Minor Planet Center
- 50719 Elizabethgriffin at AstDyS-2, Asteroids—Dynamic Site
- 50719 Elizabethgriffin at the JPL Small-Body Database
