Discovered by L. Chernykh MPC designation 11824 Alpaidze Minor planet category main-belt · (middle) Absolute magnitude 14.8 | Discovery date 16 September 1982 Alternative names 1982 SO5 · 1978 WV1 Discovered 16 September 1982 Orbits Sun Asteroid group Asteroid belt | |
Discovery site | ||
11824 Alpaidze, provisional designation 1982 SO5, is a stony asteroid from the middle region of the asteroid belt, approximately 5 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 16 September 1982, by Russian astronomer Lyudmila Chernykh at the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory, Nauchnyj, on the Crimean peninsula.
The S-type asteroid orbits the Sun at a distance of 1.8–3.4 AU once every 4 years and 3 months (1,563 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.31 and an inclination of 2° with respect to the ecliptic. The first precovery was obtained at Palomar Observatory in 1978. However, the observation was not used to extend the asteroid's observation arc.
Two rotational light-curves of this asteroid were obtained from photometric observations made at the U.S. Palomar Transient Factory, California, in September 2009. The fragmentary light-curves gave a rotation period of 7000411570000000000♠4.1157 and 7000411460000000000♠4.1146 hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.05 and 0.06 in magnitude, respectively (U=1/1). The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes an albedo of 0.10, untypically low for a stony asteroid, and calculates a diameter of 4.8 kilometers, based on an absolute magnitude of 14.7.
The minor planet is named after Georgian-born Soviet Lieutenant General Galaktion Alpaidze (1916–2006), Hero of the Soviet Union and laureate of the USSR State Prize. He was the head of the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in the 1960s and 1970s, where space crafts were tested. During his supervision, the Cosmodrome became the world's most active launch site in the world. Naming citation was published on 2 April 2007 (M.P.C. 59385).