1220 Crocus Explained

Minorplanet:yes
1220 Crocus
Background:
  1. D6D6D6
Discovered:11 February 1932
Mpc Name:(1220) Crocus
Alt Names:1932 CU1955 PC
Epoch:4 September 2017 (JD 2458000.5)
Uncertainty:0
Observation Arc:85.31 yr (31,161 days)
Perihelion:2.7807 AU
Semimajor:3.0025 AU
Eccentricity:0.0739
Period:5.20 yr (1,900 days)
Mean Motion: / day
Inclination:11.365°
Asc Node:113.34°
Arg Peri:333.41°
Abs Magnitude:11.72

1220 Crocus, provisionally designated, is a stony Eoan asteroid and slow rotator from the outer regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 17 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 11 February 1932, by German astronomer Karl Reinmuth at Heidelberg Observatory in southwest Germany.

Orbit and classification

Crocus is a member of the Eos family, a collisional population of mostly stony composition. It orbits the Sun at a distance of 2.8–3.2 AU once every 5 years and 2 months (1,900 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.07 and an inclination of 11° with respect to the ecliptic.A

Physical characteristics

The asteroid has been characterized as a stony S-type asteroid.

In December 2014, a rotational lightcurve of Crocus was obtained from photometric observations by an international collaboration of several astronomers from Europe and the United States. Lightcurve analysis gave a long rotation period of 491 hours with a brightness variation of 1.00 magnitude .

Naming

This minor planet was later named after the genus of flowering plants, Crocus, in the iris family.

External links