Discovered by B. Jekhovsky Observation arc 85.90 yr (31,375 days) Aphelion 3.19 m Discovery site Algiers Observatory | Discovery date 11 February 1927 Minor planet category main-belt · (middle) Discovered 11 February 1927 Orbits Sun | |
Alternative names 1927 CQ · 1925 QF1943 WC · 1953 CA1964 PG · A914 BA Similar Sun, Asteroid belt, 128 Nemesis, 34 Circe, 80 Sappho | ||
1181 Lilith, provisional designation 1927 CQ, is a dark asteroid from the middle region of the asteroid belt, approximately 23 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on February 11, 1927, by Russian–French astronomer Benjamin Jekhowsky at Algiers Observatory in Algeria, Northern Africa.
The X-type asteroid is also classified as a P-type by the NEOWISE mission of NASA's space-based Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer. The asteroid orbits the Sun at a distance of 2.1–3.2 AU once every 4 years and 4 months (1,587 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.20 and an inclination of 6° with respect to the ecliptic. First identified as A914 BA at Crimea-Simeis in 1914, while the asteroid's Lilith's first used observation was made at Konkoly Observatory in 1934, so its observation arc begins 7 years after its official discovery observation.
In February 2014, a rotational light-curve was obtained by Italian astronomer Andrea Ferrero at the Bigmuskie Observatory (B88) in Mombercelli, Italy. The photometric observations rendered a period of 7001150400000000000♠15.04±0.01 hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.11 in magnitude (U=2). According to NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent NEOWISE mission, Lilith measures between 20.5 and 22.1 kilometers in diameter, and its surface has an albedo between 0.09 and 0.10, while the Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes an albedo of 0.10, and calculates a diameter of 24.2 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 11.2.
The minor planet was named by the discoverer for French composer Marie-Juliette Olga Lili Boulanger (1893–1918), after younger sister of the noted conductor and composer, Nadia Boulanger. Her byname "Lili" originates from Lilith, Adam's first wife in Jewish mythology (H 110).