1109 Tata, provisional designation 1929 CU, is a dark Hygiean
asteroid from the outer regions of the
asteroid belt, approximately 69 kilometers (43 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 5 February 1929, by German astronomer
Karl Reinmuth at the
Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory in Germany.[1] The
meaning of the asteroids's name is unknown.[2]
The asteroid was first observed as 1925 QE at
Simeiz Observatory in March 1925. The body's
observation arc begins at Heidelberg in March 1929, one month after its official discovery observation.[1]
In July 2005, a rotational
lightcurve of Tata was obtained from
photometric observations by French amateur astronomer
Laurent Bernasconi. Lightcurve analysis gave a
rotation period of 8.277 hours with a low brightness amplitude of 0.06
magnitude (U=2), indicative for a spherical shape. The astronomer also reported that several other period solution could be possible.[15]
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, Tata measures between 61.817 and 74.94 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an
albedo between 0.0378 and 0.0485.[6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14]
The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link adopts the results obtained by IRAS, that is, an albedo of 0.0378 and a diameter of 66.53 kilometers based on an
absolute magnitude of 10.06.[4]
Naming
Any reference of this
minor planet's name to a person or occurrence is unknown.[2]
^
abcMasiero, Joseph R.; Grav, T.; Mainzer, A. K.; Nugent, C. R.; Bauer, J. M.; Stevenson, R.; et al. (August 2014). "Main-belt Asteroids with WISE/NEOWISE: Near-infrared Albedos". The Astrophysical Journal. 791 (2): 11.
arXiv:1406.6645.
Bibcode:
2014ApJ...791..121M.
doi:
10.1088/0004-637X/791/2/121.
^Schmadel, Lutz D. (2007). "Appendix 11 – Minor Planet Names with Unknown Meaning". Dictionary of Minor Planet Names – Fifth Revised and Enlarged revision. Springer Berlin Heidelberg. pp. 927–929.
ISBN978-3-540-00238-3.