Samiksha Jaiswal (Editor)

1602 Indiana

Updated on
Edit
Like
Comment
Share on FacebookTweet on TwitterShare on LinkedInShare on Reddit
Discovery date
  
14 March 1950

Minor planet category
  
main-belt · Flora

Discovered
  
14 March 1950

Spectral type
  
S-type asteroid

Asteroid family
  
Flora family

Discoverer
  
Indiana Asteroid Program

MPC designation
  
1602 Indiana

Observation arc
  
73.70 yr (26,918 days)

Orbits
  
Sun

Named after
  
Indiana (U.S. state)

Discovery site
  
Goethe Link Observatory

Discovered by
  
Indiana University (Indiana Asteroid Program)

Alternative names
  
1950 GF · 1943 DJ 1975 XR

1602 Indiana, provisional designation 1950 GF, is a stony Florian asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 8 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 14 March 1950, by IU's Indiana Asteroid Program at Goethe Link Observatory near Brooklyn, Indiana, in the United States.

Indiana is a member of the Flora family, a large collisional group of stony S-type asteroids in the main-belt. It orbits the Sun at a distance of 2.0–2.5 AU once every 3 years and 4 months (1,228 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.10 and an inclination of 4° with respect to the ecliptic. Indiana was first identified as 1943 DJ at Turku Observatory in Finland, extending the body's observation arc by 7 years prior to its official discovery observation.

Three rotational light-curves of Indiana were obtained from photometric observations taken by astronomer Michael Pietschnig, Gary Vander Haagen and Michael Fleenor in Spring 2007. The light-curve analysis gave a rotation period between 2.57 and 2.61 hours with a change in brightness of 0.12 to 0.19 magnitude, respectively (U=2/3/3-).

According to the surveys carried out by the Japanese Akari satellite and NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent NEOWISE mission, Indiana measures between 7.97 and 8.52 kilometers in diameter, and its surface has an albedo between 0.250 and 0.297. The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes an albedo of 0.24 – derived from 8 Flora, the largest member and namesake of this family – and calculates a diameter of 8.62 kilometers, using an absolute magnitude of 12.49.

The minor planet was named for the U.S. state of Indiana and for Indiana University with its astronomy department, which is the parent institution of the discovering Goethe Link Observatory.

Originally the discovery was credited to Beryl H. Potter (1901–1985), after whom the asteroid 1729 Beryl is named. She was research assistant at the Indiana University, who participated in the program of minor planet observations from 1949 to 1966. During this period, she analysed nearly 6,300 photographic plates, measuring the positions of minor planets and reporting lost asteroids to IAU's Minor Planet Circulars (MPCs) for publication. However, according to Frank K. Edmondson (1912–2008), chairman of the Astronomy Department of Indiana University (also see 1761 Edmondson), there were several assistants involved in blinking the photographic plates during the first years of the program. The discovery was therefore credited to Indiana University, instead. Naming citation was published before November 1977 (M.P.C. 1171).

References

1602 Indiana Wikipedia