Discovered by C. Jackson MPC designation 1506 Xosa Minor planet category main-belt · (middle) Inclination 12.546° Orbits Sun Discovery site Union Observatory | Discovery date 15 May 1939 Alternative names 1939 JC Discovered 15 May 1939 Argument of perihelion 45.148° Asteroid group Asteroid belt | |
Named after Xhosa people(Bantu ethnic group) | ||
1506 Xosa, provisional designation 1939 JC, is a stony asteroid and slow rotator from the middle region of the asteroid belt, approximately 13 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 15 May 1939, by English-born, South African astronomer Cyril Jackson at the Johannesburg Observatory in South Africa.
The S-type asteroid orbits the Sun at a distance of 1.9–3.2 AU once every 4 years and 2 months (1,508 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.26 and an inclination of 13° with respect to the ecliptic. Xosa's observation arc begins with its official discovery observation, as no precoveries were taken and no prior identifications were made.
In Fall 2010, light-curve photometry by Brian D. Warner and at the Palomar Transient Factory revealed that Xosa is a slow rotator with a notably long rotation period of 292 and 298 hours and a brightness variation of 0.70 and 0.42 magnitude, respectively (U=2+/2). It also seems to be in a non-principal axis rotation (NPAR), colloquially called as "tumbling". However, observations are insufficient to determine the body's tumbling, or to rule out a non-tumbling state (T0). These observations superseded previous periods obtained in 2001 and 2005 (U=1/1).
According to the survey carried out by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent NEOWISE mission, Xosa measures 13.96 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo of 0.157, while the Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo for stony asteroids of 0.20 and calculates a diameter of 11.83 kilometers using an absolute magnitude of 12.0.
This minor planet was named after the Xhosa (formerly spelled "Xosa"), a Bantu ethnic group of native people in south-east South Africa, and who came into early contact with the white settlers. Naming citation was published before November 1977 (M.P.C. 909).