1015 Christa

1015 Christa

Discovery[1]
Discovered by	K. Reinmuth
Discovery site	Heidelberg Obs.
Discovery date	31 January 1924
Designations
MPC designation	(1015) Christa
Named after	unknown[2]
Alternative designations	1924 QF · A916 UE
Minor planet category	main-belt · (outer)[3][4] background[5]
Orbital characteristics[3]
Epoch 23 March 2018 (JD 2458200.5)
Uncertainty parameter 0
Observation arc	93.42 yr (34,123 d)
Aphelion	3.4848 AU
Perihelion	2.9262 AU
Semi-major axis	3.2055 AU
Eccentricity	0.0871
Orbital period (sidereal)	5.74 yr (2,096 d)
Mean anomaly	232.16°
Mean motion	0° 10^m 18.12^s / day
Inclination	9.4449°
Longitude of ascending node	120.15°
Argument of perihelion	286.50°
Physical characteristics
Mean diameter	82.350±1.096 km[6] 95.51±27.79 km[7] 96.592±2.896 km[8] 96.94±3.6 km[9] 99.88±36.30 km[10] 101.04±1.37 km[11]
Mass	(4.77±0.68)×10^10 kg[12]
Mean density	9.17±1.46 g/cm^3[12]
Synodic rotation period	11.230±0.004 h[13][a] 12.189±0.001 h[14]
Geometric albedo	0.04±0.04[7][10] 0.042±0.001[11] 0.0459±0.004[9] 0.0463±0.0062[8] 0.048±0.009[15] 0.064±0.016[6]
Spectral type	Tholen = C[3][4] SMASS = Xc[3][12] · P[8] B–V = 0.693[3] U–B = 0.320[3]
Absolute magnitude (H)	9.03[3][4][6][9][8][10][11] 9.13[7] · 9.46±0.45[16]

1015 Christa, provisional designation 1924 QF, is a dark background asteroid from the outermost regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 96 kilometers (60 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 31 January 1924, by German astronomer Karl Reinmuth at the Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory in southwest Germany.[1] The meaning of this asteroids's name is unknown.[2]

Orbit and classification

Christa is a non-family asteroid from the main belt's background population.[5] It orbits the Sun in the outermost asteroid belt at a distance of 2.9–3.5 AU once every 5 years and 9 months (2,096 days; semi-major axis of 3.21 AU). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.09 and an inclination of 9° with respect to the ecliptic.[3]

The asteroid was first observed as A916 UE at the Simeiz Observatory in October 1916. The body's observation arc begins at Heidelberg in February 1924, two days after its official discovery observation.[1]

Physical characteristics

In the Tholen classification, Christa is a common C-type asteroid,[3][4] while in the SMASS classification, it is a Xc-subtype that transitions from the carbonaceous C-type to the X-type asteroids.[3][12] It has also been characterized as a primitive P-type asteroid by the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE).[8]

Rotation period

In April 2005, a first rotational lightcurve of Christa was obtained from photometric observations by French amateur astronomers Raymond Poncy and René Roy. Lightcurve analysis gave a rotation period of 12.189 hours with a brightness variation of 0.20 magnitude (U=2).[14] In January 2009, a refined period of 11.230 hours and an amplitude of 0.12 magnitude was measured by photometrist Brian Warner at his Palmer Divide Observatory in Colorado, United States (U=3-).[13][a]

Diameter and albedo

According to the surveys carried out by the Infrared Astronomical Satellite IRAS, the Japanese Akari satellite and the NEOWISE mission of NASA's WISE telescope, Christa measures between 82.35 and 101.04 kilometers in diameter and its surface has a low albedo between 0.04 and 0.064.[6][7][8][9][10][11][15] The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link adopts the results obtained by IRAS, that is, an albedo of 0.0459 with a diameter of 96.94 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 9.03.[4]

1015 Christa has been observed to occult 8 stars between 2005 and 2023.

Naming

Any reference of this minor planet's name to a person or occurrence is unknown.[2]

Unknown meaning

Among the many thousands of named minor planets, Christa is one of 120 asteroids, for which no official naming citation has been published. All of these low-numbered asteroids have numbers between 164 Eva and 1514 Ricouxa and were discovered between 1876 and the 1930s, predominantly by astronomers Auguste Charlois, Johann Palisa, Max Wolf and Karl Reinmuth.[17]

Notes

1. Lightcurve plot of (1015) Christa, Palmer Divide Observatory, B. D. Warner (2009). Summary figures at the LCDB

References

1. "1015 Christa (1924 QF)". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 3 March 2018.
2. Schmadel, Lutz D. (2007). "(1015) Christa". Dictionary of Minor Planet Names – (1015) Christa. Springer Berlin Heidelberg. p. 87. doi:10.1007/978-3-540-29925-7_1016. ISBN 978-3-540-00238-3.
3. "JPL Small-Body Database Browser: 1015 Christa (1924 QF)" (2017-07-05 last obs.). Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved 3 March 2018.
4. "LCDB Data for (1015) Christa". Asteroid Lightcurve Database (LCDB). Retrieved 3 March 2018.
5. "Asteroid 1015 Christa – Nesvorny HCM Asteroid Families V3.0". Small Bodies Data Ferret. Retrieved 24 October 2019.
6. Masiero, Joseph R.; Mainzer, A. K.; Grav, T.; Bauer, J. M.; Cutri, R. M.; Nugent, C.; et al. (November 2012). "Preliminary Analysis of WISE/NEOWISE 3-Band Cryogenic and Post-cryogenic Observations of Main Belt Asteroids". The Astrophysical Journal Letters. 759 (1): 5. arXiv:1209.5794. Bibcode:2012ApJ...759L...8M. doi:10.1088/2041-8205/759/1/L8. S2CID 46350317. Retrieved 3 March 2018.
7. Nugent, C. R.; Mainzer, A.; Bauer, J.; Cutri, R. M.; Kramer, E. A.; Grav, T.; et al. (September 2016). "NEOWISE Reactivation Mission Year Two: Asteroid Diameters and Albedos". The Astronomical Journal. 152 (3): 12. arXiv:1606.08923. Bibcode:2016AJ....152...63N. doi:10.3847/0004-6256/152/3/63.
8. 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. S2CID 35447010.
9. Tedesco, E. F.; Noah, P. V.; Noah, M.; Price, S. D. (October 2004). "IRAS Minor Planet Survey V6.0". NASA Planetary Data System. 12: IRAS-A-FPA-3-RDR-IMPS-V6.0. Bibcode:2004PDSS...12.....T. Retrieved 22 October 2019.
10. Nugent, C. R.; Mainzer, A.; Masiero, J.; Bauer, J.; Cutri, R. M.; Grav, T.; et al. (December 2015). "NEOWISE Reactivation Mission Year One: Preliminary Asteroid Diameters and Albedos". The Astrophysical Journal. 814 (2): 13. arXiv:1509.02522. Bibcode:2015ApJ...814..117N. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/814/2/117. S2CID 9341381. Retrieved 3 March 2018.
11. Usui, Fumihiko; Kuroda, Daisuke; Müller, Thomas G.; Hasegawa, Sunao; Ishiguro, Masateru; Ootsubo, Takafumi; et al. (October 2011). "Asteroid Catalog Using Akari: AKARI/IRC Mid-Infrared Asteroid Survey". Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan. 63 (5): 1117–1138. Bibcode:2011PASJ...63.1117U. doi:10.1093/pasj/63.5.1117. (online, AcuA catalog p. 153)
12. Carry, B. (December 2012), "Density of asteroids", Planetary and Space Science, 73 (1): 98–118, arXiv:1203.4336, Bibcode:2012P&SS...73...98C, doi:10.1016/j.pss.2012.03.009, S2CID 119226456 See Table 1.
13. Warner, Brian D. (July 2009). "Asteroid Lightcurve Analysis at the Palmer Divide Observatory: 2008 December – 2009 March". The Minor Planet Bulletin. 36 (3): 109–116. Bibcode:2009MPBu...36..109W. ISSN 1052-8091. Retrieved 3 March 2018.
14. Behrend, Raoul. "Asteroids and comets rotation curves – (1015) Christa". Geneva Observatory. Retrieved 3 March 2018.
15. Masiero, Joseph R.; Grav, T.; Mainzer, A. K.; Nugent, C. R.; Bauer, J. M.; Stevenson, R.; et al. (August 2014). "Main-belt Asteroids with WISE/NEOWISE: Near-infrared Albedos". The Astrophysical Journal. 791 (2): 11. arXiv:1406.6645. Bibcode:2014ApJ...791..121M. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/791/2/121. S2CID 119293330.
16. 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. S2CID 53493339. Retrieved 3 March 2018.
17. Schmadel, Lutz D. (2007). "Appendix 11 – Minor Planet Names with Unknown Meaning". Dictionary of Minor Planet Names – Fifth Revised and Enlarged revision. Springer Berlin Heidelberg. pp. 927–929. ISBN 978-3-540-00238-3.

External links

• Asteroid Lightcurve Database (LCDB), query form (info Archived 16 December 2017 at the Wayback Machine)
• Dictionary of Minor Planet Names, Google books
• Asteroids and comets rotation curves, CdR – Observatoire de Genève, Raoul Behrend
• Discovery Circumstances: Numbered Minor Planets (1)-(5000) – Minor Planet Center
• 1015 Christa at AstDyS-2, Asteroids—Dynamic Site
  • Ephemeris · Observation prediction · Orbital info · Proper elements · Observational info
• 1015 Christa at the JPL Small-Body Database
  • Close approach · Discovery · Ephemeris · Orbit viewer · Orbit parameters · Physical parameters