3255 Tholen

3255 Tholen
Discovery [1]
Discovered by E. Bowell
Discovery site Anderson Mesa Stn.
Discovery date 2 September 1980
Designations
MPC designation 3255 Tholen
Named after
 David J. Tholen
(astronomer)[2]
1980 RA · 1969 SD
Mars-crosser [1][3][4]
Orbital characteristics [1]
Epoch 31 July 2016 (JD 2457600.5)
Uncertainty parameter 0
Observation arc 45.63 yr (16,667 days)
Aphelion 3.2355 AU
Perihelion 1.5086 AU
2.3720 AU
Eccentricity 0.3640
3.65 yr (1,334 days)
257.34°
0° 16m 11.28s / day
Inclination 21.355°
337.22°
79.171°
Earth MOID 0.6644 AU
Physical characteristics
Dimensions 5.07 km (derived)[4]
6.76±0.17 km[5]
2.947±0.001 h[6]
2.95±0.02 h[lower-alpha 1]
2.95±0.01 h[lower-alpha 1]
3±1 h[7]
6 h[8]
0.142±0.008[5]
0.20 (assumed)[4]
SMASS = S [1] · S [4]
13.4[1]
13.60[5]
13.84±0.04[4][7][9]

    3255 Tholen, provisional designation 1980 RA, is a stony and relatively fast rotating asteroid and Mars-crosser, approximately 6 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 2 September 1980, by American astronomer Edward Bowell at Lowell's Anderson Mesa Station in Flagstaff, Arizona.[3]

    The S-type asteroid orbits the Sun at a distance of 1.5–3.2 AU once every 3 years and 8 months (1,334 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.36 and an inclination of 21° with respect to the ecliptic.[1] The first observation was made at the Argentinian El Leoncito site in 1969, extending the asteroid's observation arc by 11 years prior to its discovery.[3]

    According to the space-based survey carried out by the Japanese Akari satellite, the asteroid measures 6.8 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo of 0.14,[5] while the Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo for stony asteroids of 0.20 and calculates a diameter of 5.1 kilometers, based on an absolute magnitude of 13.84.[4]

    Several rotational light-curves were obtained for this asteroid from photometric observations. In September 2013, Italian astronomer Andrea Ferrero at the Bigmuskie Observatory (B88) in Mombercelli, Italy, derived a rotation period of 2.947±0.001 hours with a brightness variation of 0.11 in magnitude (U=2), while two month later, in November 2013, astronomer Brian A. Skiff obtained two light-curves that both gave a period of 2.95 and an amplitude of 0.24 and 0.28 in magnitude, respectively (U=3-/3-).[lower-alpha 1] The results supersede two older light-curves from 1991 and 2002, that gave a period of 3±1 and 6 hours, respectively (U=1/1).[7][8]

    The minor planet was named after David J. Tholen (b. 1955), a discoverer of minor planets and planetary scientist at the Institute for Astronomy of the University of Hawaii, known for his eight-color taxonomic scheme on minor planets.[2] Naming citation was published on 14 April 1987 (M.P.C. 11749).[10]

    References

    1. 1 2 3 Skiff (2013) web: rotation period 2.95±0.01 and 2.95±0.02 hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.24 and 0.28 mag, respectively. Summary figures at Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link (CALL) for (3255) Tholen, Skiff, B.A. (2013) Posting on CALL web site.
    1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "JPL Small-Body Database Browser: 3255 Tholen (1980 RA)" (2015-05-08 last obs.). Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved 13 August 2016.
    2. 1 2 Schmadel, Lutz D. (2007). Dictionary of Minor Planet Names – (3255) Tholen. Springer Berlin Heidelberg. p. 271. ISBN 978-3-540-00238-3. Retrieved 13 August 2016.
    3. 1 2 3 "3255 Tholen (1980 RA)". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 13 August 2016.
    4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "LCDB Data for (3255) Tholen". Asteroid Lightcurve Database (LCDB). Retrieved 13 August 2016.
    5. 1 2 3 4 Usui, Fumihiko; Kuroda, Daisuke; Müller, Thomas G.; Hasegawa, Sunao; Ishiguro, Masateru; Ootsubo, Takafumi; et al. (October 2011). "Asteroid Catalog Using Akari: AKARI/IRC Mid-Infrared Asteroid Survey" (PDF). Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan. 63 (5): 1117–1138. Bibcode:2011PASJ...63.1117U. doi:10.1093/pasj/63.5.1117. Retrieved 13 August 2016.
    6. ↑ Ferrero, Andrea (January 2014). "Period Determination of Four Main-belt Asteroids in Mid-2013". The Minor Planet Bulletin. 41 (1): 24–25. Bibcode:2014MPBu...41...24F. ISSN 1052-8091. Retrieved 13 August 2016.
    7. 1 2 3 Wisniewski, W. Z.; Michalowski, T. M.; Harris, A. W.; McMillan, R. S. (March 1995). "Photoelectric Observations of 125 Asteroids". Abstracts of the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference. Bibcode:1995LPI....26.1511W. Retrieved 13 August 2016.
    8. 1 2 Behrend, Raoul. "Asteroids and comets rotation curves – (3255) Tholen". Geneva Observatory. Retrieved 13 August 2016.
    9. ↑ Pravec, Petr; Harris, Alan W.; Kusnirák, Peter; Galád, Adrián; Hornoch, Kamil (September 2012). "Absolute magnitudes of asteroids and a revision of asteroid albedo estimates from WISE thermal observations". Icarus. 221 (1): 365–387. Bibcode:2012Icar..221..365P. doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2012.07.026. Retrieved 13 August 2016.
    10. ↑ "MPC/MPO/MPS Archive". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 13 August 2016.

    External links

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