10476 Los Molinos, provisional designation 1981 EY38, is a stony background asteroid and slow rotator from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 2.9 kilometers (1.8 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 2 March 1981, by American astronomer Schelte Bus at the Siding Spring Observatory in Australia. The asteroid was named for the Los Molinos Observatory in Uruguay.[2]

Orbit and classification

Los Molinos is a non-family asteroid from the main belt's background population.[4] It orbits the Sun in the inner asteroid belt at a distance of 1.7–2.9 AU once every 3 years and 6 months (1,289 days; semi-major axis of 2.32 AU). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.26 and an inclination of 9° with respect to the ecliptic.[1] The body's observation arc begins with its first observations as 1978 NB3 at Crimea–Nauchnij in July 1978.[2]

Physical characteristics

Based on its high albedo and its location within the asteroid belt, Los Molinos is an assumed S-type asteroid.[3]

Rotation period

In August 2010, a rotational lightcurve of Los Molinos was obtained from photometric observations in the R-band by astronomers at the Palomar Transient Factory in California. Lightcurve analysis gave a rotation period of 267.906±1.9703 hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.33 magnitude (U=2).[7] This makes Los Molinos one of the top 200 slow rotators known to exist.[3]

Diameter and albedo

According to the survey carried out by the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, Los Molinos measures 2.853 kilometers in diameter and its surface has a high albedo of 0.34.[5][6]

The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo for stony asteroids of 0.20 and calculates a diameter of 2.96 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 15.01.[3]

Naming

This minor planet was named after the Los Molinos Observatory (844) located near Montevideo in Uruguay. The observatory is known for its astrometric follow-up observations of asteroids and comets.[2] The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 13 April 2017 (M.P.C. 103975/103976).[9]

References

  1. ^ a b c d "JPL Small-Body Database Browser: 10476 Los Molinos (1981 EY38)" (2017-10-30 last obs.). Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved 20 February 2018.
  2. ^ a b c d "10476 Los Molinos (1981 EY38)". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 20 February 2018.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h "LCDB Data for (10476) Los Molinos". Asteroid Lightcurve Database (LCDB). Retrieved 20 February 2018.
  4. ^ a b "Asteroid 10476 Los Molinos – Proper Elements". AstDyS-2, Asteroids – Dynamic Site. Retrieved 29 October 2019.
  5. ^ 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.
  6. ^ 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.
  7. ^ 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.
  8. ^ 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.
  9. ^ "MPC/MPO/MPS Archive". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 20 February 2018.
Allikas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/10476_Los_Molinos
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