Discovered by M. F. Wolf MPC designation 1179 Mally Minor planet category main-belt · (middle) Absolute magnitude 12.9 Discoverer Max Wolf | Discovery date 19 March 1931 Alternative names 1931 FD Discovered 19 March 1931 Orbits Sun Asteroid group Asteroid belt | |
Named after Mally Wolf
(discoverer's family) Discovery site Landessternwarte Heidelberg-Königstuhl Similar 528 Rezia, 417 Suevia, 540 Rosamunde, 509 Iolanda, 484 Pittsburghia | ||
1179 Mally, provisional designation 1931 FD, is an asteroid and long-lost minor planet from the middle region of the asteroid belt, approximately 13 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 19 March 1931, by German astronomer Max Wolf at Heidelberg Observatory in Southern Germany.
Mally orbits the Sun at a distance of 2.2–3.1 AU once every 4 years and 3 months (1,548 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.17 and an inclination of 9° with respect to the ecliptic. After its initial discovery in 1931, it became one of few well known lost minor planets for over 55 years. In 1986, Mally was rediscovered by Lutz D. Schmadel, Richard Martin West and Hans-Emil Schuster, who remeasured the original discovery plates and computed alternative search ephemerides. This allowed them to find the body very near to its predicted position. In addition, historic photographic plates from the Palomar Sky Survey (1956–1958), the UK Schmidt Telescope (Australia), and the ESO Schmidt Telescope (Chile) confirmed the rediscovery.
According to the 2014-published results from the survey carried out by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent NEOWISE mission, Mally measures between 13.2 and 14.4 kilometers in diameter, and its surface has an albedo between 0.059 and 0.071, while the Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link (CALL) assumes an albedo of 0.10 and calculates a diameter of 10.7 kilometers, based on an absolute magnitude of 12.98. In addition, CALL classifies it as a stony S-type body, despite its low albedo.
In September 2013, a rotational light-curve of Mally was obtained from photometric observations taken at the Palomar Transient Factory in California. It gave a longer than average rotation period of 46.6 hours with a brightness variation of 0.08 magnitude. However, the result is rejected by CALL (U=1).
The minor planet was named after Mally Wolf, wife of Franz Wolf and the discoverer's daughter-in-law (H 110).