Discovered by G. Reiss MPC designation 1299 Mertona Minor planet category main-belt · (middle) Absolute magnitude 11.5 Asteroid group Asteroid belt | Discovery date 18 January 1934 Alternative names 1934 BA Discovered 18 January 1934 Orbits Sun Discovery site Algiers Observatory | |
Named after Gerald Merton (astronomer) People also search for Sun, 1237 Geneviève, 1213 Algeria, 1300 Marcelle, 1376 Michelle | ||
1299 Mertona, provisional designation 1934 BA, is an asteroid from the middle region of the asteroid belt, approximately 15 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 18 January 1934, by French astronomer Guy Reiss at Algiers Observatory, Algeria, in northern Africa.
Mertona orbits the Sun at a distance of 2.3–3.3 AU once every 4 years and 8 months (1,712 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.19 and an inclination of 8° with respect to the ecliptic. As neither precoveries nor prior identifications were obtained, Mertona's observation arc begins with its official discovery observation at Algiers.
Several rotational light-curves of Mertona were obtained during 2003–2016. Photometric observations were taken by astronomers Andy Monson and Steven Kipp (4.977 hours; Δ0.55 mag; U=3) in November 2003, by French amateur astronomer René Roy (4.981 hours; Δ0.46 mag; U=3) in March 2005, by astronomers at the Palomar Transient Factory (4.9787 hours, Δ0.48 mag, U=2) in August 2012, and by Daniel Klinglesmith (4.978 hours, Δ0.59 mag, U=3) at Etscorn Observatory (719) in Socorro, New Mexico. In addition, a 2016-published light-curve, modelling data from the Lowell photometric database, gave a concurring period of 4.97691 hours and a spin axis of (73.0°, 35.0°) in ecliptic coordinates (U=n.a.).
According to the surveys carried out by the Japanese Akari satellite and NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent NEOWISE mission, Mertona measures between 14.14 and 14.60 kilometers in diameter, and its surface has an albedo between 0.219 and 0.243. Although such a high albedo is typical for stony asteroids, the Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes an albedo of 0.057, which it uses as the generic albedo for all carbonaceous C-type asteroids. It therefor calculates a larger diameter of 27.90 kilometers (as the lower the albedo or reflectivity, the larger a body's diameter at an unchanged absolute magnitude or brightness). Carbonaceous asteroids are the predominant type in the outer main-belt, while stony asteroids are mostly found in the inner regions of the asteroid belt.
This minor planet was named after English astronomer Gerald Merton (1893–1983), who was president of the British Astronomical Association between 1950 and 1952. Naming citation was first mentioned in The Names of the Minor Planets by Paul Herget in 1955 (H 119).