Discovered by E. W. Elst MPC designation 15268 Wendelinefroger Discovered 18 November 1990 Inclination 2.7542° Discoverer Eric Walter Elst Asteroid group Asteroid belt | Discovery date 18 November 1990 Minor planet category main-belt · (inner) Aphelion 2.92 m Orbits Sun | |
Named after Wendeline Froger(Belgian singer) Alternative names 1990 WF3 · 1979 WA71986 PO5 · 1999 CD133 | ||
15268 Wendelinefroger, provisional designation 1990 WF3, is a stony, spheroidal, and binary asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 3.4 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered by Belgian astronomer Eric Elst at ESO's La Silla Observatory in northern Chile, on 18 November 1990.
The S-type asteroid orbits the Sun at a distance of 1.8–2.9 AU once every 3 years and 8 months (1,329 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.23 and an inclination of 3° with respect to the ecliptic. It was first identified as 1979 WA7 at Crimea–Nauchnij in 1979, extending the asteroid's observation arc by 11 years prior to its discovery.
In October 2008, a rotational light-curve was obtained from photometric observations at the Leura Observatory (E17), Australia. It gave a rotation period of 2.422 hours with a low brightness variation of 0.07 magnitude, which indicates that the asteroid is of nearly spheroidal shape (U=3). The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link (CALL) assumes a standard albedo for stony asteroids of 0.20 and calculates a diameter of 3.4 kilometer, based on an absolute magnitude of 14.7.
During the photometric observations in 2008, a minor-planet moon was also discovered, orbiting Wendelinefroger every 7001250700000000000♠25.07±0.02 hours at a distance of 8.7 kilometers. Based on mutual occultations of Wendelinefroger and its moon, the diameter ratio for the two bodies is at least 0.24 (i.e. secondary-to-primary mean-diameter ratio), which translates into an estimated diameter of 0.8 kilometer or more for the asteroid's moon, using CALL's calculated diameter for the primary.
The minor planet is named in honour of Belgian female singer Wendeline Froger (b. 1948), who has a soprano voice and performs at church celebrations, weddings and for selected audiences at her residence. She has a preference to sing Lieder by Robert Schumann, after whom the minor planet 4003 Schumann is named. Naming citation was published on 12 December 2008 (M.P.C. 64563).