(8962) Noctua
Asteroid (8962) Noctua |
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Properties of the orbit ( animation ) | |
Orbit type | Main outer belt asteroid |
Major semi-axis | 3.1964 AU |
eccentricity | 0.0782 |
Perihelion - aphelion | 2.9464 AU - 3.4464 AU |
Inclination of the orbit plane | 4.7477 ° |
Length of the ascending node | 38.9911 ° |
Argument of the periapsis | 21.6715 ° |
Time of passage of the perihelion | 17th September 2018 |
Sidereal period | 5.71 a |
Mean orbital velocity | 16.66 km / s |
Physical Properties | |
Medium diameter | 16.988 km (± 0.264) |
Albedo | 0.051 (± 0.009) |
Absolute brightness | 12.8 mag |
history | |
Explorer |
Cornelis Johannes van Houten , Ingrid van Houten-Groeneveld , Tom Gehrels |
Date of discovery | September 24, 1960 |
Another name | 2771 PL |
Source: Unless otherwise stated, the data comes from JPL Small-Body Database Browser . The affiliation to an asteroid family is automatically determined from the AstDyS-2 database . Please also note the note on asteroid items. |
(8962) Noctua is an asteroid of the main outer belt that was discovered on September 24, 1960 by the Dutch astronomer couple Cornelis Johannes van Houten and Ingrid van Houten-Groeneveld . The discovery came about as part of the Palomar-Leiden survey , during which Tom Gehrels examined field plates recorded at the University of Leiden with the 120 cm Oschin Schmidt telescope of the Palomar observatory .
With an albedo of 0.05, the asteroid has a dark surface.
(8962) Noctua is named after the little owl , whose scientific name is Athene noctua . At the time the asteroid was named on February 2, 1999, the little owl was on the Dutch Red List of Endangered Species .
Web links
- (8962) Noctua in the database of the "Asteroids - Dynamic Site" (AstDyS-2, English).
- (8962) Noctua in the Small-Body Database of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory of NASA at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in Pasadena , California (English)
- Discovery Circumstances of (8962) Noctua according to the Minor Planet Center of the International Astronomical Union at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge , Massachusetts (English)