1509 Esclangona, provisional designation 1938 YG, is a rare-type Hungaria asteroid and binary system from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 8 kilometers in diameter. It is named after French astronomer Ernest Esclangon.
Esclangona is a member of the Hungaria family, which form the innermost concentration of asteroids in the Solar System. It orbits the Sun in the inner main-belt at a distance of 1.8–1.9 AU once every 2 years and 7 months (931 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.03 and an inclination of 22° with respect to the ecliptic.[1]
Binary system
Esclangona has a small moon, provisionally named S/2003 (1509) 1, which measures 4 kilometers in diameter, and orbits 140 kilometers from its parent. This wide separation relative to the pair's size is rather unusual and it is believed that both Esclangona and its moon are ejecta from an asteroidal collision in the past that left the scene as a co-orbiting pair; a similar pairing is 3749 Balam and its moon.[6]
Physical characteristics
In the Tholen taxonomy, Esclangona is a common stony S-type asteroid. It has since been characterized as a rare K-type asteroid by polarimetric observations.[19]
Rotation period
In December 2004, photometric measurements of Esclangona made by American astronomer Brian Warner at his Palmer Divide Observatory, California, showed a lightcurve with a rotation period of 3.247±0.002 hours and a brightness variation of 0.17±0.02 in magnitude.[13][a]
Diameter and albedo
According to the surveys carried out by the Infrared Astronomical Satellite IRAS, the Japanese Akari satellite, and NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent NEOWISE mission, Esclangona measures between 6.83 and 9.87 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo between 0.107 and 0.41.[7][8][9][11] The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link derives an albedo of 0.2041 and a diameter of 8.18 kilometers with an absolute magnitude of 12.858.[4]
^ 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)