1362 Griqua, provisional designation 1935 QG1 is a dark, Jupiter-resonant background asteroid on an eccentric, cometary-like orbit and the namesake of the Griqua group, located in the Hecuba gap in the outermost region of the asteroid belt.[5] The carbonaceous asteroid measures approximately 28 kilometers (17 miles) in diameter and has a rotation period of 6.9 hours.[4] It was discovered on 31 July 1935, by South-African astronomer Cyril Jackson at Union Observatory in Johannesburg.[1] The asteroid was named after the Griqua people in South Africa and Namibia.[2]
This asteroid orbits the Sun in the outermost asteroid belt at a distance of 2.0–4.4 AU once every 5 years and 9 months (2,107 days; semi-major axis of 3.22 AU). Its orbit has a high eccentricity of 0.37 and an inclination of 24° with respect to the ecliptic.[3]
The body's observation arc begins with its first observation as 1931 BN at Lowell Observatory in January 1931, more than 4 years prior to its official discovery observation at Johannesburg.[1]
In November 2000, a rotational lightcurve of Griqua was obtained from photometric observations by Colin Bembrick at the Mount Tarana Observatory in Australia. Lightcurve analysis gave a well-defined rotation period of 6.907 hours with a brightness variation of 0.25 magnitude (U=3).[17] In 2009, follow-up observations by Jean and Milan Strajnic (511), Alain Klotz and Raoul Behrend as well as observations in the S-band by astronomers at the Palomar Transient Factory in California gave a concurring period of 6.891 and 6.9 hours with an amplitude of 0.23 and 0.24 magnitude, respectively (U=2/2).[15][16] The result supersedes a measurement of 7 hours made in the 1970s (U=1).[18]
The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link adopts the results obtained by IRAS, that is, an albedo of 0.0667 with a diameter of 29.90 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 11.18,[4] while fragmentary radiometric observations in the 1970s determined a diameter of 31.0 kilometer and a derived albedo of 0.055 (TRIAD).[6][a]
^The TRIAD radiometric diameters and albedos (Tucson Revised Index of Asteroid Data). The radiometric observations used for the Tucson Revised Index of Asteroid Data (TRIAD) compilation consist of broadband radiometry at 10 microns (the N band) and 20 microns (the Q band). Observations from 1972 through 1978 have been used. The results are compiled in Morrison and Zellner (1979). References to the observation papers for each entry are given in the associated references file. The observations have been interpreted with the standard model described in Morrison and Lebofsky (1979), using the computer code of Jones and Morrison (1974). Further details of the analysis are described in Morrison and Lebofsky (1979).
^ abcdMasiero, 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. S2CID46350317.
^ 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)
^ abBembrick, C. (September 2001). "Lightcurves and Period Determination for 1362 Griqua". The Minor Planet Bulletin. 28: 42–43. Bibcode:2001MPBu...28...42B.
^ abTaylor, R. C.; Gehrels, T.; Capen, R. C. (September 1976). "Minor planets and related objects. XXI - Photometry of eight asteroids". Astronomical Journal. 81: 778–786.NASA–supportedresearch. Bibcode:1976AJ.....81..778T. doi:10.1086/111953.