1067 Lunaria, provisional designation 1926 RG, is a stony Itha asteroid from the outer regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 18 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 9 September 1926, by astronomer Karl Reinmuth at the Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory in southwest Germany.[13] The asteroid was named after the flowering plant Lunaria (honesty).[3]
It orbits the Sun in the outer asteroid belt at a distance of 2.3–3.4 AU once every 4 years and 10 months (1,777 days; semi-major axis of 2.87 AU). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.19 and an inclination of 11° with respect to the ecliptic.[1] The body's observation arc begins at Heidelberg in October 1926, one month after its official discovery observation.[13]
In July 1984, a first rotational lightcurve of Lunaria was obtained by American astronomer Richard Binzel. Lightcurve analysis gave a rotation period of 7.74 hours with a brightness variation of 0.13 magnitude (U=2).[11] In September 2004, Donald Pray at the Carbuncle Hill Observatory (I00) derived a refined period of 6.057 hours with an amplitude of 0.27 magnitude from photometric observations (U=3).[10]
The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo for stony asteroids of 0.20 and derives a diameter of 18.07 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 11.08.[4]
Due to his many discoveries, Karl Reinmuth submitted a large list of 66 newly named asteroids in the early 1930s. The list covered his discoveries with numbers between (1009) and (1200). This list also contained a sequence of 28 asteroids, starting with 1054 Forsytia, that were exclusively named after plants, in particular flowering plants(also see list of minor planets named after animals and plants).[15]
^ abcdUsui, 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)
^ abcMasiero, 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.