3953 Perth, provisional designation 1986 VB6, is a stony Florianasteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 4.5 kilometers (2.8 mi) in diameter. It was discovered on 6 November 1986, by American astronomer Edward Bowell at the Anderson Mesa Station near Flagstaff, Arizona.[11] The asteroid was named for the Australian Perth Observatory.[2]
Orbit and classification
Perth is a member of the Flora family (402),[4] a giant asteroid family and the largest family of stony asteroids in the main-belt.[12]: 23 It orbits the Sun in the inner main-belt at a distance of 1.8–2.7 AU once every 3 years and 5 months (1,242 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.19 and an inclination of 5° with respect to the ecliptic.[1]
The asteroid was first identified as 1969 TO6 at Crimea–Nauchnij in October 1969. The body's observation arc begins at Nauchnij with its identification as 1979 RP1 in October 1979, more than seven years prior to its official discovery observation at Anderson Mesa.[11]
In February 2008, a rotational lightcurve of Perth was obtained by a collaboration of astronomers in a photometric survey of the Flora region. Lightcurve analysis gave a rotation period of 5.083 hours with a brightness variation of 0.28 magnitude (U=2).[6] Other photometric observations at the Palomar Transient Factory in October 2010, and by Wiesław Wiśniewski in December 1993, gave a period of 5.087 and 5.2 hours with an amplitude of 0.92 and 1.09, respectively (U=2/2+).[8][7]
Diameter and albedo
According to the survey carried out by the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, Perth measures 4.80 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo of 0.335,[5] while the Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes an albedo of 0.24 – taken from 8 Flora the Flora family's largest member and namesake – and derives a diameter of 4.18 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 14.06.[3]
