3031 Houston
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3031 Houston, provisional designation Template:Mp, is a stony Florian asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 6 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 8 February 1984, by American astronomer Edward Bowell at Anderson Mesa Station near Flagstaff, Arizona.[1] It was named after American amateur astronomer Walter Scott Houston.[2]
Orbit and classification
Houston is a member of the Flora family (402Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".), a giant asteroid family and the largest family of stony asteroids in the main-belt.[3][4][5]Template:Rp It orbits the Sun in the inner main-belt at a distance of 2.0–2.5 AU once every 3 years and 4 months (1,221 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.10 and an inclination of 4° with respect to the ecliptic.[6]
The body's observation arc begins with its identification as Template:Mp at Goethe Link Observatory in October 1954, or 30 years prior to its official discovery observation at Anderson Mesa.[1]
Physical characteristics
Houston is an assumed S-type asteroid, in line with the Flora family's overall spectral type.[3][5]Template:Rp
Rotation period
In April 2011, a rotational lightcurve of Houston was obtained from photometric observations by astronomers at the Oakley Southern Sky Observatory (E09Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".) in Australia. Lightcurve analysis gave a well-defined rotation period of 11.218 hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.11 magnitude (U=3Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".). Two more lightcurves obtained at the Palomar Transient Factory in 2014, gave a period of 5.61 (half the period solution) and 11.175 hours with an amplitude of 0.17 and 0.14 magnitude, respectively (U=2/2Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".).[7][8]
Diameter and albedo
According to the survey carried out by the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, Houston measures between 5.45 and 6.761 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo between 0.2456 and 0.39.[9][10][11]
The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes an albedo of 0.24 – derived from 8 Flora, the largest member and namesake of the Flora family – and calculates a diameter of 7.14 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 12.9.[3]
Naming
This minor planet was named after Walter Scott Houston (1912–1993), an American amateur astronomer best known for his column "Deep-Sky Wonders" in the Sky and Telescope magazine. Houston, who observed deep-sky objects, has also encouraged many amateur astronomers.
The name was proposed by the discoverer following a suggestion by P. L. Dombrowski.[2] The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 22 June 1986 (M.P.C. 10845Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".).[12]
References
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External links
- Asteroid Lightcurve Database (LCDB), query form (info Template:Webarchive)
- Dictionary of Minor Planet Names, Google books
- Asteroids and comets rotation curves, CdR – Observatoire de Genève, Raoul Behrend
- Discovery Circumstances: Numbered Minor Planets (1)-(5000) – Minor Planet Center
- Template:AstDys
- Template:PAGENAMEBASE at the JPL Small-Body DatabaseTemplate:EditAtWikidata
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