50719 Elizabethgriffin

50719 Elizabethgriffin

Discovery [1][2]
Discovered by	CSS
Discovery site	Mount Lemmon Obs.
Discovery date	1 March 2000
Designations
MPC designation	(50719) Elizabethgriffin
Named after	Elizabeth Griffin (Canadian astronomer)
Alternative designations	2000 EG140 · 2001 MV3
Minor planet category	main-belt · Maria [3][4]
Orbital characteristics [2]
Epoch 27 April 2019 (JD 2458600.5)
Uncertainty parameter 0
Observation arc	19.92 yr (7,276 d)
Aphelion	2.9305 AU
Perihelion	2.2365 AU
Semi-major axis	2.5835 AU
Eccentricity	0.1343
Orbital period (sidereal)	4.15 yr (1,517 d)
Mean anomaly	73.206°
Mean motion	0° 14^m 14.64^s / day
Inclination	14.303°
Longitude of ascending node	262.84°
Argument of perihelion	30.265°
Physical characteristics
Mean diameter	3.307±0.134 km[5][6]
Synodic rotation period	1256.0159±63.4351 h[7]
Geometric albedo	0.370±0.065[5][6]
Spectral type	S [8]
Absolute magnitude (H)	14.1[5] 14.2[1][2] 14.204±0.004 (R)[7]

50719 Elizabethgriffin (provisional designation 2000 EG₁₄₀) is a stony Maria asteroid and exceptionally slow rotator from the central region of the asteroid belt, approximately 3.3 kilometers (2.1 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 1 March 2000, by astronomers with the Catalina Sky Survey at Mount Lemmon Observatory, Arizona, United States. It was named for Canadian astronomer Elizabeth Griffin.[1]

Classification and orbit

The stony S-type asteroid is a member of the Maria family (506),[3][4] located in the Eunomia region in the intermediate main-belt. It orbits the Sun in the central main-belt at a distance of 2.2–2.9 AU once every 4 years and 2 months (1,517 days; semi-major axis of 2.58 AU). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.13 and an inclination of 14° with respect to the ecliptic.[2] A first precovery was taken at Lowell Observatory (LONEOS) in 1998, extending the asteroid's observation arc by 2 years prior to its discovery.[1]

Numbering and naming

This minor planet was numbered by the Minor Planet Center on 20 November 2002.[9] It was named after Elizabeth Griffin (born 1942) a Canadian astronomer who studies binary stars spectroscopically. She has been an advocate for the preservation and digitization of astronomic photographic plates.[1] The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 6 April 2019 (M.P.C. 112432).[9]

Physical characteristics

Slow rotator

In August 2010, a rotational lightcurve of Elizabethgriffin was obtained from photometric observations by astronomers at the Palomar Transient Factory in California. It gave an exceptionally long rotation period of 1256 hours with a brightness variation of 0.42 magnitude (U=2).[7] This makes the asteroid the 5th slowest rotating minor planet known to exist.

Diameter and albedo

According to the surveys carried out by the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, Elizabethgriffin measures 3.3 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo of 0.37,[5][6] while the Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo for stony asteroids of 0.21 and calculates a diameter of 3.4 kilometers with an absolute magnitude of 14.65.[8]

References

1. "50719 (2000 EG140)". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 9 April 2019.
2. "JPL Small-Body Database Browser: 50719 (2000 EG140)" (2018-09-17 last obs.). Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved 9 April 2019.
3. "Asteroid 50719 Elizabethgriffin". Small Bodies Data Ferret. Retrieved 9 April 2019.
4. "Asteroid (50719) Elizabethgriffin – Proper elements". AstDyS-2, Asteroids – Dynamic Site. Retrieved 9 April 2019.
5. Mainzer, A.; Grav, T.; Masiero, J.; Hand, E.; Bauer, J.; Tholen, D.; et al. (November 2011). "NEOWISE Studies of Spectrophotometrically Classified Asteroids: Preliminary Results". The Astrophysical Journal. 741 (2): 25. arXiv:1109.6407. Bibcode:2011ApJ...741...90M. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/741/2/90.
6. Masiero, Joseph R.; Mainzer, A. K.; Grav, T.; Bauer, J. M.; Cutri, R. M.; Dailey, J.; et al. (November 2011). "Main Belt Asteroids with WISE/NEOWISE. I. Preliminary Albedos and Diameters". The Astrophysical Journal. 741 (2): 20. arXiv:1109.4096. Bibcode:2011ApJ...741...68M. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/741/2/68.
7. Waszczak, Adam; Chang, Chan-Kao; Ofek, Eran O.; Laher, Russ; Masci, Frank; Levitan, David; et al. (September 2015). "Asteroid Light Curves from the Palomar Transient Factory Survey: Rotation Periods and Phase Functions from Sparse Photometry". The Astronomical Journal. 150 (3): 35. arXiv:1504.04041. Bibcode:2015AJ....150...75W. doi:10.1088/0004-6256/150/3/75.
8. "LCDB Data for (50719)". Asteroid Lightcurve Database (LCDB). Retrieved 3 September 2016.
9. "MPC/MPO/MPS Archive". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 9 April 2019.

External links

• Asteroid Lightcurve Database (LCDB), query form (info Archived 16 December 2017 at the Wayback Machine)
• Dictionary of Minor Planet Names, Google books
• Asteroids and comets rotation curves, CdR – Observatoire de Genève, Raoul Behrend
• Discovery Circumstances: Numbered Minor Planets (50001)-(55000) – Minor Planet Center
• 50719 Elizabethgriffin at AstDyS-2, Asteroids—Dynamic Site
  • Ephemeris · Observation prediction · Orbital info · Proper elements · Observational info
• 50719 Elizabethgriffin at the JPL Small-Body Database
  • Close approach · Discovery · Ephemeris · Orbit viewer · Orbit parameters · Physical parameters