Discovered by P. Wild MPC designation 13025 Zürich Alternative names 1989 BA Discovered 28 January 1989 Discoverer Paul Wild Asteroid group Asteroid belt | Discovery date 28 January 1989 Named after Zürich (Swiss city) Minor planet category main-belt · Phocaea Orbits Sun Discovery site Zimmerwald Observatory | |
Similar Sun, 3552 Don Quixote, 81P/Wild | ||
13025 Zürich, provisional designation 1989 BA, is a stony Phocaea asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 5 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 28 January 1989, by Swiss astronomer Paul Wild at Zimmerwald Observatory near Bern, Switzerland.
The stony S-type asteroid is a member of the Phocaea family, a rather small group of asteroids with similar orbital characteristics, named after its largest member, 25 Phocaea. It orbits the Sun at a distance of 1.7–3.0 AU once every 3 years and 8 months (1,343 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.28 and an inclination of 24° with respect to the ecliptic. The first precovery was obtained at the Australian Siding Spring Observatory in 1975, extending the asteroid's observation arc by 14 years prior to its discovery.
In November 2006, American astronomer Brian Warner obtained a rotational light-curve from photometric observations made at his Palmer Divide Observatory in Colorado. The light-curve showed a rotation period of 7001185300000000000♠18.53±0.02 hours and a brightness variation of 0.24 in magnitude (U=2+).
According to the survey carried out by NASA's space-based Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent NEOWISE mission, the asteroid measures 4.9 kilometers in diameter and its surface has a high albedo of 0.32, while the Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes an albedo of 0.23 and hence calculates a somewhat larger diameter of 5.3 kilometers, based on an absolute magnitude of 13.6.
The minor planet is named after Zürich, Switzerland's largest city and economic center, located at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich. It was founded by the Romans in the 1st century BC on the rivers Sihl and Limmat and was then called Turicum. Naming citation was published on 1 November 2001 (M.P.C. 43762).