1072 Malva, provisional designation 1926 TA, is a dark background asteroid from the outer regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 48 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 4 October 1926, by astronomer Karl Reinmuth at the Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory in Germany.[12] The asteroid was named after the flowering plant Malva (mallow).[3]
Orbit and classification
Malva is a non-family asteroid from the main belt's background population.[5] It orbits the Sun in the outer asteroid belt at a distance of 2.4–3.9 AU once every 5 years and 8 months (2,057 days; semi-major axis of 3.17 AU). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.24 and an inclination of 8° with respect to the ecliptic.[1] The body's observation arc begins with its official discovery observation at Heidelberg in October 1926.[12]
Observations performed by Brian Warner at the Palmer Divide Observatory in Colorado Springs, Colorado, during 2007 produced a lightcurve with a period of 10.080 ± 0.005 hours and a brightness range of 0.17 ± 0.02 in magnitude (U=3).[11][a] Another lightcurve obtained by Italian amateur astronomers Roberto Crippa and Federico Manzini at the Sozzago Astronomical Station (A12) gave a period of 9.0127 hours with an amplitude of 0.17 magnitude (U=2).[10]
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), and also contained a sequence of 28 asteroids, starting with 1054 Forsytia, that were all named after plants, in particular flowering plants(also see list of minor planets named after animals and plants).[13]
