Valdivia is a non-family asteroid from the main belt's background population. It orbits the Sun in the central main-belt at a distance of 2.1–3.1 AU once every 4 years and 3 months (1,540 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.18 and an inclination of 10° with respect to the ecliptic.[1] The asteroid was first observed as 1935 CM at Uccle Observatory in February 1935, where the body's observation arc begins just a two weeks later, or more than 40 years before its official discovery observation at Cerro El Roble.[13]
Naming
This minor planet was named after Spanish conquistador Pedro de Valdivia (1502–1553), who conquered Chile with a small expedition corps after he served under Francisco Pizarro in Peru. Valdivia founded the cities Santiago (1541) and Concepción (1550) and became Chile's first royal governor.[2] The city of Valdivia in southern Chile is also named after him. The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 26 March 1986 (M.P.C. 10546).[14]
Physical characteristics
Rotation period
In August 2016, the so-far best-rated rotational lightcurve of Valdivia was obtained by the Spanish amateur astronomer group OBAS. Lightcurve analysis gave a rotation period of 4.098 hours with a brightness variation of 0.25 magnitude (U=3).[10] Previously, in May 2003, photometric observations made by Donald P. Pray at the Carbuncle Hill Observatory (912) near Providence, Rhode Island, gave a synodic period of 4.096 hours and an amplitude of 0.40 in magnitude (U=2+).[9] In addition astronomers at the Palomar Transient Factory found a period of 4.096 hours with an amplitude of 0.28 om May 2011 (U=2),[8] and French amateur astronomer René Roy obtained a period of 8.1922 hours (twice the period solution) with an amplitude of 0.36 (U=2).[11]
Poles
In 2016, an international study modeled a lightcurve with a concurring period of 4.09668±0.00005 hours and found two spin axes of (269.0°, −31.0°) and (103.0°, −59.0°) in ecliptic coordinates (λ, β) (U=n.a.).[12]
Diameter and albedo
According to the survey carried out by the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, Valdivia measures between 9.13 and 11.679 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo between 0.205 and 0.404,[4][6][7] while the Japanese Akari satellite found an albedo of 0.244 and a diameter of 10.73 kilometers.[5] The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes an albedo of 0.10 – a compromise value between the carbonaceous (0.057) and stony (0.20) asteroids – and calculates a diameter of 17.52 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 11.9.[3]
^ abcHanuš, J.; Ďurech, J.; Oszkiewicz, D. A.; Behrend, R.; Carry, B.; Delbo, M.; et al. (February 2016). "New and updated convex shape models of asteroids based on optical data from a large collaboration network". Astronomy and Astrophysics. 586: A108. arXiv:1510.07422. Bibcode:2016A&A...586A.108H. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201527441. ISSN0004-6361.
_Valdivia.png)
