21509 Lucascavin (provisional designation 1998 KL35) is a small asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 2.5 kilometers (1.6 miles) in diameter. It is the namesake of the tiny Lucascavin family located within the Flora clan. It was discovered on 22 May 1998, by astronomers with the Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research at the Lincoln Laboratory's Experimental Test Site near Socorro, New Mexico.[1] The presumed S-type asteroid has a rotation period of 5.8 hours.[4] It was named for the 2005-ISEF awardee Lucas James Cavin.[1]
| Discovery [1] | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | LINEAR |
| Discovery site | Lincoln Lab's ETS |
| Discovery date | 22 May 1998 |
| Designations | |
| (21509) Lucascavin | |
Named after | Lucas James Cavin [1] (2005 ISEF awardee) |
| 1998 KL35 · 1982 VD3 | |
| main-belt [1][2] · (inner) Lucascavin [3] · Flora [3][4] Baptistina [3] · Duponta [5] | |
| Orbital characteristics [2] | |
| Epoch 27 April 2019 (JD 2458600.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 0 | |
| Observation arc | 35.44 yr (12,944 d) |
| Aphelion | 2.5369 AU |
| Perihelion | 2.0276 AU |
| 2.2822 AU | |
| Eccentricity | 0.1116 |
| 3.45 yr (1,259 d) | |
| 189.97° | |
| 0° 17m 9.24s / day | |
| Inclination | 5.9813° |
| 70.168° | |
| 4.4723° | |
| Physical characteristics | |
| 2.54 km (calculated)[4] | |
| 5.784±0.004 h[6] | |
| 0.24 (assumed)[4] | |
| S (assumed)[4] V–R = 0.474±0.016[6] | |
| 14.68±0.07 (R)[6] 14.9[1][2] | |
Orbit and classification
editAccording to a HCM-analysis by David Nesvorný, Lucascavin is the namesake of the Lucascavin family (412),[3] a tight, young cluster between 200 and 800 thousand years old,[6][7] which consists of 3 known asteroids only – the others are (180255) and (209570). The cluster in turn belongs to the encompassing Baptistina family (403) within the larger Florian region (402).[3][8] Since other astronomers have ruled out the existence of a Flora family in the first place, Lucascavin has also been grouped to the alternative Duponta family, a core group inside the Florian region.[5]
Lucascavin orbits the Sun in the inner asteroid belt at a distance of 2.0–2.5 AU once every 3 years and 5 months (1,259 days; semi-major axis of 2.28 AU). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.11 and an inclination of 6° with respect to the ecliptic.[2] The body's observation arc begins with its first observation as 1982 VD3 at Kiso Observatory in November 1982, more than 15 years prior to its official discovery observation.[1]
Naming
editThis minor planet was named after Lucas James Cavin (born 1986) who won the second place in the 2005 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair for his engineering project.[1] The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 22 August 2005 (M.P.C. 54702).[9] At the time he attended the Chillico High School in Missouri, United States.[1]
Physical characteristics
editLucascavin is an assumed S-type asteroid,[4] in agreement with the overall spectral type of the Lucascavin, Baptistina and Flora family groupings.[3][8]: 23
Rotation period
editBetween 2006 and 2016, several rotational lightcurves of Lucascavin have been obtained from photometric observations by Czech astronomer Petr Pravec. Best-rated lightcurve analysis from 2013 gave a rotation period of 5.784±0.004 hours with a consolidated brightness amplitude between 0.23 and 0.30 magnitude (U=2/3/3-).[4][6] Pravec also determined a low V–R color index of 0.474.[6]
Diameter and albedo
editThe Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes an albedo of 0.24 – derived from 8 Flora the namesake of the Flora clan – and calculates a diameter of 2.54 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 15.14.[4]
References
edit- ^ a b c d e f g h i "21509 Lucascavin (1998 KL35)". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 5 December 2018.
- ^ a b c d "JPL Small-Body Database Browser: 21509 Lucascavin (1998 KL35)" (2018-04-23 last obs.). Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved 5 December 2018.
- ^ a b c d e f "Asteroid 21509 Lucascavin". Small Bodies Data Ferret. Retrieved 5 December 2018.
- ^ a b c d e f g h "LCDB Data for (21509) Lucascavin". Asteroid Lightcurve Database (LCDB). Retrieved 5 December 2018.
- ^ a b "Asteroid (21509) Lucascavin". AstDyS-2, Asteroids – Dynamic Site. Retrieved 4 December 2018.
- ^ a b c d e f Pravec, P.; Fatka, P.; Vokrouhlický, D.; Scheeres, D. J.; Kusnirák, P.; Hornoch, K.; et al. (April 2018). "Asteroid clusters similar to asteroid pairs" (PDF). Icarus. 304: 110–126. Bibcode:2018Icar..304..110P. doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2017.08.008. Retrieved 5 December 2018.
- ^ Nesvorný, D.; Vokrouhlický, D. (November 2006). "New Candidates for Recent Asteroid Breakups". The Astronomical Journal. 132 (5): 1950–1958. Bibcode:2006AJ....132.1950N. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.693.3963. doi:10.1086/507989. S2CID 54038063.
- ^ a b Nesvorný, D.; Broz, M.; Carruba, V. (December 2014). "Identification and Dynamical Properties of Asteroid Families". Asteroids IV. pp. 297–321. arXiv:1502.01628. Bibcode:2015aste.book..297N. doi:10.2458/azu_uapress_9780816532131-ch016. ISBN 9780816532131. S2CID 119280014.
- ^ "MPC/MPO/MPS Archive". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 5 December 2018.
External links
edit- 2005 Awardees, Lincoln Laboratory (archived)
- Asteroid Lightcurve Database (LCDB), query form (info Archived 16 December 2017 at the Wayback Machine)
- Dictionary of Minor Planet Names, Google books
- Discovery Circumstances: Numbered Minor Planets (20001)-(25000) – Minor Planet Center
- Asteroid Family Dynamics in the Inner Main Belt (Flora and Nysa/Polana), Melissa Joy Dykhuis, University of Arizona
- 21509 Lucascavin at AstDyS-2, Asteroids—Dynamic Site
- 21509 Lucascavin at the JPL Small-Body Database