9641 Demazière
9641 Demazière, provisional designation 1994 PB30, is a stony asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 3 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered by Belgian astronomer Eric Elst at ESO's La Silla Observatory site in northern Chile on 12 August 1994.[6] The asteroid was named for Belgian scientist Martine De Mazière.[2] Orbit and classificationDemazière orbits the Sun in the inner main-belt at a distance of 2.1–2.8 AU once every 3 years and 10 months (1,403 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.13 and an inclination of 5° with respect to the ecliptic.[1] A first precovery was obtained by the Steward Observatory at Kitt Peak in 1991, extending the body's observation arc by 3 years prior to its official discovery observation at La Silla.[6] Physical characteristicsDemazière has been characterized as a V-type asteroid by Pan-STARRS photometric survey.[5] LightcurvesIn November 2010, a rotational lightcurve of Demazière was obtained from photometric observations taken at the Palomar Transient Factory in California. It gave a rotation period of 9.9121 hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.9 magnitude (U=2).[4] Diameter and albedoThe Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo for stony asteroids of 0.20 and calculates a diameter of 2.7 kilometers with an absolute magnitude of 15.2.[3] NamingThis minor planet was named in honor of Belgian scientist Martine De Mazière (born 1960), director-general at the Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy as of 2016.[7] Working with the optical scanning of Earth's atmosphere, her research focuses on the effect of aerosols in the atmosphere's composition. Mazière has also assessed the post-Pinatubo NO2 reduction and recovery, using spectroscopic observations in the UV and visible made at the Swiss Sphinx Observatory (Jungfraujoch) over a period of 10 years.[2] The approved naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 4 May 1999 (M.P.C. 34630).[8] References
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