Discovered by K. Reinmuth Discovery date 22 April 1925 Alternative names 1925 HA | Discovery site Heidelberg Obs. MPC designation 1042 Amazone | |
Named after Amazons
(Greek mythology) | ||
1042 Amazone, provisional designation 1925 HA, is a dark asteroid and slow rotator in the outer asteroid belt, approximately 70 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 22 April 1925, by German astronomer Karl Reinmuth at Heidelberg Observatory in southern Germany.
Amazone orbits the Sun at a distance of 2.9–3.5 AU once every 5 years and 10 months (2,128 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.09 and an inclination of 21° with respect to the ecliptic. The body's observation arc begins three weeks after its official discovery observation.
According to the surveys carried out by the Infrared Astronomical Satellite IRAS, the Japanese Akari satellite, and NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) with its subsequent NEOWISE mission, Amazone measures between 63.9 and 73.6 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo of 0.039 to 0.054. The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link derives an albedo of 0.036 and a diameter of 73.6 kilometers. The carbonaceous asteroid is also classified as a P and X type by WISE and PanSTARRS, respectively.
In April 2005, astronomer Brian D. Warner obtained two divergent rotational light-curves for Amazone. The longer solution gave a long rotation period of 540 hours with a brightness variation of 0.25 magnitude (U=2) The astronomer assumes the full light-curve to be bimodal, having two maximums and minimums per rotation.
Based on a proposal by Gustav Stracke, the asteroid was named after the Amazons, a race of woman warriors in Greek mythology. They had no men and joined with their neighbors, killed the sons and educated the daughters of whom the teats were burnt so that they could discharge the arrows more rapidly. The asteroids 271 Penthesilea and 10295 Hippolyta were named after queens of the Amazons, while 5143 Heracles was named after the hero who fought them.