50719 Elizabethgriffin
Discovery [1][2]
Discovered byCSS
Discovery siteMount Lemmon Obs.
Discovery date1 March 2000
Designations
(50719) Elizabethgriffin
Named after
Elizabeth Griffin
(Canadian astronomer)
2000 EG140 · 2001 MV3
main-belt · Maria [3][4]
Orbital characteristics [2]
Epoch 27 April 2019 (JD 2458600.5)
Uncertainty parameter 0
Observation arc19.92 yr (7,276 d)
Aphelion2.9305 AU
Perihelion2.2365 AU
2.5835 AU
Eccentricity0.1343
4.15 yr (1,517 d)
73.206°
0° 14m 14.64s / day
Inclination14.303°
262.84°
30.265°
Physical characteristics
Mean diameter
3.307±0.134 km[5][6]
1256.0159±63.4351 h[7]
0.370±0.065[5][6]
S [8]
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. 1 2 3 4 5 "50719 (2000 EG140)". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 9 April 2019.
    2. 1 2 3 4 "JPL Small-Body Database Browser: 50719 (2000 EG140)" (2018-09-17 last obs.). Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved 9 April 2019.
    3. 1 2 "Asteroid 50719 Elizabethgriffin". Small Bodies Data Ferret. Retrieved 9 April 2019.
    4. 1 2 "Asteroid (50719) Elizabethgriffin – Proper elements". AstDyS-2, Asteroids – Dynamic Site. Retrieved 9 April 2019.
    5. 1 2 3 4 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. 1 2 3 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. 1 2 3 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. 1 2 "LCDB Data for (50719)". Asteroid Lightcurve Database (LCDB). Retrieved 3 September 2016.
    9. 1 2 "MPC/MPO/MPS Archive". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 9 April 2019.
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