Discovered by K. Reinmuth Discovery date 22 April 1927 | Discovery site Heidelberg Obs. MPC designation 1209 Pumma | |
Named after Niece of discoverer's friend Alternative names 1927 HA · 1950 JQ1963 UU | ||
1209 Pumma, provisional designation 1927 HA, is an asteroid from the outer region of the asteroid belt, approximately 30 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 22 April 1927, by German astronomer Karl Reinmuth at Heidelberg Observatory in southwest Germany.
Pumma orbits the Sun at a distance of 2.8–3.6 AU once every 5 years and 8 months (2,061 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.13 and an inclination of 7° with respect to the ecliptic. No precoveries were taken, an no prior identifications were made. The body's observation arc begins at Uccle, 8 days after its official discovery observation at Heidelberg.
In April 2012, a rotational lightcurve of Pumma was obtained from photometric observations by Italian and French amateur astronomers Silvano Casulli and René Roy. Lightcurve analysis gave a well-defined rotation period of 8.5001 hours with a brightness variation of 0.28 magnitude (U=3).
According to the survey carried out by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent NEOWISE mission, Pumma measures between 21.73 and 26.99 kilometers in diameter, and its surface has an albedo between 0.139 and 0.215. The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo for carbonaceous C-type asteroids of 0.057 and consequently calculates a much larger diameter of 40.33 kilometers using an absolute magnitude of 10.7.
This minor planet's name was proposed by German astronomer Albrecht Kahrstedt (1897–1971), a staff member at ARI and later director at Babelsberg Observatory (also see 1587 Kahrstedt). "Pumma" is the nickname of a niece of Kahrstedt. In 1955, naming citation was first published by Paul Herget in The Names of the Minor Planets (H 112).