Discovered by O. A. Naranjo Minor planet category main-belt · Themis Discovered 22 September 1993 Discoverer Orlando A. Naranjo Asteroid group Asteroid belt | Discovery date 22 September 1993 Observation arc 40.04 yr (14,625 days) Orbits Sun Asteroid family Themis family MPC designation 12359 | |
Named after Juan Manuel Cajigal y Odoardo (mathematician, engineer, and statesman) Alternative names 1993 SN3 · 1976 UU2
1998 QB9 Discovery site Llano del Hato National Astronomical Observatory | ||
12359 Cajigal, provisional designation 1993 SN3, is a carbonaceous Themistian asteroid from the outer region of the asteroid belt, approximately 12 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 22 September 1993, by Venezuelan astronomer Orlando Naranjo at the Llano del Hato National Astronomical Observatory, Mérida, located in the Venezuelan Andes.
The dark C-type asteroid is a member of the Themis family, a dynamical family of outer-belt asteroids with nearly coplanar ecliptical orbits. It orbits the Sun at a distance of 2.7–3.7 AU once every 5 years and 9 months (2,091 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.16 and an inclination of 1° with respect to the ecliptic. The first precovery was taken at Steward Observatory (Kitt Peak–Spacewatch) in 1991, extending the asteroid's observation arc by 2 years prior to its discovery. The first unused observation at Crimea-Nauchnij dates back to 1976.
In 2010, a photometric light-curve analysis at the U.S. Palomar Transient Factory, California, rendered a rotation period of 7001117664000000000♠11.7664±0.0038 hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.27 in magnitude (U=2). According to the surveys carried out by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer and its subsequent NEOWISE mission, the asteroid's diameter measures 13.1 and 11.7 kilometers, and its surface has an albedo of 0.095 and 0.098, respectively. The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes an albedo of 0.08 and calculates a diameter of 10.5 kilometers.
The minor planet is named after Venezuelan mathematician, engineer, and statesman, Juan Manuel Cajigal y Odoardo (1803–1856), who introduced the study of mathematics and engineering in his country with his founding of the Military Academy of Mathematics in 1831. He also installed the first astronomical telescopes in Caracas, where the Cajigal Observatory ("El Observatorio Cajigal") was later established in 1888. Naming citation was published on 10 September 2003 (M.P.C. 49675).