![]() Modelled shape of Katyusha from its
lightcurve | |
Discovery [1] | |
---|---|
Discovered by | T. Smirnova |
Discovery site | Crimean Astrophysical Obs. |
Discovery date | 16 December 1971 |
Designations | |
(1900) Katyusha | |
Named after |
Yekaterina Zelenko (Soviet war pilot) [2] |
1971 YB · 1938 WM 1941 SS1 · 1950 LS 1953 GL1 · 1961 WD 1969 DC | |
main-belt · Flora family [3] | |
Orbital characteristics [1] | |
Epoch 4 September 2017 ( JD 2458000.5) | |
Uncertainty parameter 0 | |
Observation arc | 63.59 yr (23,226 days) |
Aphelion | 2.5075 AU |
Perihelion | 1.9116 AU |
2.2096 AU | |
Eccentricity | 0.1348 |
3.28 yr (1,200 days) | |
354.20 ° | |
0° 18m 0.36s / day | |
Inclination | 6.5426° |
281.91° | |
142.40° | |
Physical characteristics | |
8.820±0.097 km
[4] 9 km [5] [6] | |
9.4999 h (0.39583 d) [1] | |
0.29
[5]
[6] 0.299±0.037 [4] | |
S [3] | |
12.2 [1] | |
1900 Katyusha ( prov. designation: 1971 YB) is a stony background asteroid from the inner asteroid belt, approximately 9 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 16 December 1971, by Russian astronomer Tamara Smirnova at the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory in Nauchnyj, on the Crimean peninsula [7] and named in honor of Yekaterina Zelenko, the only woman to credited with conducting an aerial ramming. [2]
Katyusha is a member of the Flora family, one of the largest groups of stony asteroids in the inner main-belt. [3] It orbits the Sun in the inner main-belt at a distance of 1.9–2.5 AU once every 3 years and 3 months (1,200 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.13 and an inclination of 7 ° with respect to the ecliptic. [1]
This minor planet was named in honor of Ukrainian Yekaterina Zelenko (1916–1941), a war pilot and Hero of the Soviet Union, known for being the only woman who had ever executed an aerial ramming. The asteroid's name "Katyusha" is a petname for Ekaterina. [2]
It rotates around its axis with a period of 9.4999 hours and with a brightness variation of 0.72 magnitude, indicating a non-spheroidal shape. [8]
According to the survey carried out by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent NEOWISE mission, Katyusha measures between 8.820 and 9 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo between 0.29 and 0.299. [4] [5] [6] Katyusha has been characterized as a S-type asteroid. [3]