Discovered by E. W. Elst MPC designation 12696 Camus Minor planet category main-belt · (middle) Discovered 26 September 1989 Orbits Sun Named after Albert Camus Asteroid group Asteroid belt | Discovery date 26 September 1989 Alternative names 1989 SF1 · 1993 QL2 Observation arc 26.50 yr (9,680 days) Aphelion 3 m Discoverer Eric Walter Elst Discovery site La Silla Observatory | |
12696 Camus, provisional designation 1989 SF1, is a carbonaceous asteroid from the middle region of the asteroid belt, approximately 9 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered by Belgian astronomer Eric Elst at ESO's La Silla Observatory in northern Chile on 26 September 1989.
The dark C-type asteroid orbits the Sun at a distance of 2.2–3.0 AU once every 4 years and 3 months (1,550 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.14 and an inclination of 8° with respect to the ecliptic. The asteroid's observation arc begins with its discovery, as no precoveries were taken and no identifications were made before 1989.
In October 2006, a rotational light-curve was obtained from photometric observations by Julian Oey at the Leura Observatory (E17) in Australia. The light-curve rendered a rotation period of 7000378000000000000♠3.78±0.04 hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.40 in magnitude (U=3-).
According to NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent NEOWISE mission, the asteroid has an albedo of 0.07 and 0.13 with a corresponding diameter of 9.3 and 7.7 kilometers, respectively. The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo for carbonaceous asteroids of 0.057 and calculates a larger diameter of 11.1 kilometer, based on an absolute magnitude of 13.5.
The minor planet was named after French philosopher, author, and journalist, Albert Camus (1913–1960), who received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1957. He is best known for his novels L'Etranger (The Stranger) and La Peste (The Plague). His main interests were justice, ethics, and politics. As a liberal humanist, he was against the doctrines of Christianity as well as Marxism. Naming citation was published on 20 March 2000 (M.P.C. 39658).