Discovery [1] | |
---|---|
Discovered by | H. van Gent |
Discovery site |
Johannesburg Obs. ( Leiden Southern Station) |
Discovery date | 9 September 1934 |
Designations | |
(1925) Franklin-Adams | |
Named after |
John Franklin Adams (British astronomer) [2] |
1934 RY · 1969 EP1 1970 KH · 1974 KK | |
main-belt
[1]
[3] · (
middle) background [4] [5] | |
Orbital characteristics [3] | |
Epoch 31 May 2020 ( JD 2459000.5) | |
Uncertainty parameter 0 | |
Observation arc | 85.14 yr (31,098 d) |
Aphelion | 2.9989 AU |
Perihelion | 2.1046 AU |
2.5517 AU | |
Eccentricity | 0.1752 |
4.08 yr (1,489 d) | |
11.630 ° | |
0° 14m 30.48s / day | |
Inclination | 7.7371° |
113.47° | |
242.08° | |
Physical characteristics | |
Mean diameter | 8.864±0.114 km [6] [7] |
2.978±0.002 h [5] [8] [a] | |
0.356±0.054 [6] [7] | |
S (assumed) [9] | |
12.0
[7] 12.1 [1] [3] | |
1925 Franklin-Adams ( prov. designation: 1934 RY) is a stony background asteroid from the central regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 8.9 kilometers (5.5 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 9 September 1934, by Dutch astronomer Hendrik van Gent at the Leiden Southern Station, annex to the Johannesburg Observatory in South Africa. [1] The bright asteroid has a short rotation period of less than 3 hours. [5] It was named after British amateur astronomer John Franklin Adams (1843–1912). [2]
Franklin-Adams is a non- family asteroid of the main belt's background population when applying the hierarchical clustering method to its proper orbital elements. [4] It orbits the Sun in the central asteroid belt at a distance of 2.1–3.0 AU once every 4 years and 1 month (1,489 days; semi-major axis of 2.55 AU). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.18 and an inclination of 8 ° with respect to the ecliptic. [3] The body's observation arc begins with its official discovery observation at Johannesburg. [1]
This minor planet named after British amateur astronomer John Franklin Adams (1843–1912), who created one of the earliest detailed, photographic atlases of the complete night sky (the Franklin-Adams plates or charts). [10] He later donated his 25-cm Franklin-Adams Star Camera (Franklin-Adams photographic refractor) to the Johannesburg Observatory, which lead to the discovery of Proxima Centauri. [2] The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 20 December 1983 ( M.P.C. 8402). [11] Asteroid 982 Franklina, discovered by South African astronomer Harry Edwin Wood at Johannesburg was also named after him.
Franklin-Adams is an assumed stony S-type asteroid with a very high albedo of more than 0.3 (see below). [5] [9]
In January 2005, a rotational lightcurve of Franklin-Adams was obtained from photometric observations by French amateur astronomer René Roy. Lightcurve analysis gave a rotation period of 3.082 hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.23 magnitude ( U=2). [12] In March 2010, photometry at the Palomar Transient Factory in California gave a period of 2.979 with an amplitude of 0.32 magnitude ( U=2). [13] In January 2013, American astronomer Brian Warner obtained the so-far best rated lightcurve. [a] It gave a period of 2.978 hours and an amplitude of 0.25 magnitude ( U=3). [8]
In 2016, an international study modeled a lightcurve with a concurring period of 2.978301 hours and found a spin axis of (277.0°, 57.0°) and (66.0°, 48.0°) in ecliptic coordinates (λ, β) ( U=n.a.). [14]
According to the survey carried out by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent NEOWISE mission, Franklin-Adams measures 8.864 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an unusually high albedo of 0.356, [6] while the Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo for stony asteroids of 0.20 and calculates a diameter of 11.30 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 12.1. [9]