Discovered by A. GaládA. Pravda MPC designation 14968 Kubáček Discovered 23 August 1997 Orbits Sun Asteroid group Asteroid belt | Discovery date 23 August 1997 Minor planet category main-belt · (middle) Absolute magnitude 13.9 | |
Named after Dalibor Kubáček(astronomer) Alternative names 1997 QG · 1987 DG31998 XT89 Discoverers Adrián Galád, Alexander Pravda People also search for Sun, 11636 Pezinok, 12482 Pajka | ||
14968 Kubáček, provisional designation 1997 QG, is a stony asteroid from the middle region of the asteroid belt, approximately 5 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 23 August 1997, by Slovak astronomers Adrián Galád and Alexander Pravda at Modra Observatory, Slovakia.
The S-type asteroid orbits the Sun at a distance of 2.3–2.8 AU once every 4 years and 1 month (1,501 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.10 and an inclination of 5° with respect to the ecliptic. The first precovery was taken at the French Caussols Observatory in 1987, extending the asteroid's observation arc by 10 years prior to its discovery.
A rotational light-curve for this asteroid was obtained from photometric observations made by the discovering astronomer Adrián Galád at Modra Observatory in April 2008. The light-curve showed a rotation period of 7000488999999999999♠4.89±0.01 hours with a brightness variation of 0.48 in magnitude (U=3-).
According to the survey carried out by NASA's space-based Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent NEOWISE mission, the asteroid measures 4.8 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo of 0.21, while the Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo for stony asteroids of 0.20 and calculates a diameter of 4.7 kilometers.
The minor planet is named in honor of astronomer Dalibor Kubáček (b. 1957), who explored the coma of comets at the Slovak Academy of Sciences in Bratislava. He readily instructed the peculiar methods of image processing to students and friends, as well as to the discoverers of this minor planet. Naming citation was published on 27 April 2002 (M.P.C. 45339).