Discovered by L. Boyer MPC designation 1412 Lagrula Orbital period 1,204 days Orbits Sun Asteroid group Asteroid belt | Discovery date 19 January 1937 Discovered 19 January 1937 Discovery site Algiers Observatory | |
Named after Philippe Lagrula(astronomer) Alternative names 1937 BA · 1929 US1962 XM | ||
1412 Lagrula, provisional designation 1937 BA, is an asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, which measures approximately 7 or 23 kilometers in diameter, depending on its stony or carbonaceous classification, respectively. It was discovered on 19 January 1937, by French astronomer Louis Boyer at the North African Algiers Observatory in Algeria.
Lagrula is a presumed member of the Flora family, a large group of stony S-type asteroids in the inner main-belt. It orbits the Sun at a distance of 2.0–2.5 AU once every 3 years and 4 months (1,204 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.11 and an inclination of 5° with respect to the ecliptic. First identified as 1929 US with a precovery taken at Lowell Observatory in 1929, the body's observation arc was extended by 8 years prior to its official discovery observation at Algiers.
During March and April 2013, photometric observations of Lagrula were made over ten nights by Italian astronomer Giovanni Casalnuovo at Eurac Observatory (C62) in Bolzano, Italy. Light-curve analysis gave a rotation period of 5.9176 hours and a brightness variation of 0.28 magnitude (U=2+). In January 2016, a more refined period of 5.882 hours with an amplitude of 0.44 magnitude was obtained from a bimodal light-curve by Spanish astronomer group OBAS, Observadores de Asteroides (U=3).
According to the survey carried out by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent NEOWISE mission, Lagrula measures 7.8 kilometers in diameter, and its surface has an albedo of 0.318 and 0.36, respectively (most recent results only). However, the Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a carboanceous albedo of 0.058 and calculates a diameter of 23.98 kilometers, which is in agreement with Giovanni Casalnuovo, who published a diameter of 7001230000000000000♠23±3 and an albedo of 0.06 using an absolute magnitude of 11.81. Casalnuovo assumed a C-type, rather than an S-type, because he found an average V–R color index of 6999370000000000000♠0.37±0.05 magnitude.
This minor planet was named after French astronomer Joanny-Philippe Lagrula (1870–1941), discoverer of the minor planet 775 Lumière and director of the Quito Astronomical Observatory and Algiers Observatory. Naming citation was neither published in the The Names of the Minor Planets nor in the Minor Planet Circulars, but researched and compiled by astronomer and author Lutz D. Schmadel, based on his private communications with his colleges (LDS).