1683 Castafiore Explained

Minorplanet:yes
1683 Castafiore
Background:
  1. D6D6D6
Discovered:19 September 1950
Mpc Name:(1683) Castafiore
Alt Names:1950 SL1936 PH
1949 HA1959 TH
Named After:Bianca Castafiore
Epoch:4 September 2017 (JD 2458000.5)
Uncertainty:0
Observation Arc:80.55 yr (29,420 days)
Perihelion:2.2554 AU
Semimajor:2.7360 AU
Eccentricity:0.1756
Period:4.53 yr (1,653 days)
Mean Motion: / day
Inclination:12.476°
Asc Node:326.66°
Arg Peri:346.87°
Dimensions: km

km
25.44 km
Albedo:0.057


Abs Magnitude:11.611.7

1683 Castafiore, provisional designation, is a carbonaceous background asteroid from the central region of the asteroid belt, approximately 21 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 19 September 1950, by Belgian astronomer Sylvain Arend at Royal Observatory of Belgium in Uccle, Belgium, and named after the character Bianca Castafiore from The Adventures of Tintin.

Orbit and classification

The C-type asteroid orbits the Sun in the middle main-belt at a distance of 2.3–3.2 AU once every 4 years and 6 months (1,653 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.18 and an inclination of 12° with respect to the ecliptic.

Naming

This minor planet was named for Bianca Castafiore, a fictional character in the comic-strip Adventures of Tintin . On the occasion of his seventy-fifth birthday, the father of the fictional character, Georges Remi, better known under his pseudonym Hergé, was honoured by the minor planet 1652 Hergé. The approved naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 8 April 1982 .

Physical characteristics

Rotation period

In September 2004, American astronomer Donald P. Pray obtained a rotational lightcurve of Castafiore from photometric observations. It gave a rotation period of 13.931 hours with a brightness variation of 0.66 magnitude .

Diameter and albedo

According to the survey carried out by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent NEOWISE mission, Castafiore measures 21.15 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo of 0.160 (best result only), while the Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo for carbonaceous asteroids of 0.057, and calculates a diameter of 25.44 kilometers with an absolute magnitude of 11.7.

External links