Discovered by Y. Väisälä MPC designation 1631 Kopff Observation arc 90.10 yr (32,910 days) Orbits Sun Named after August Kopff (astronomer) Discovery site Iso-Heikkilä Observatory | Discovery date 11 October 1936 Minor planet category main-belt · Flora Discovered 11 October 1936 Discoverer Yrjö Väisälä Asteroid family Flora family | |
Alternative names 1936 UC · 1926 TH
1935 FG · 1946 SA
1952 HV2 Similar 1450 Raimonda, Sun, 8 Flora | ||
1631 Kopff, provisional designation 1936 UC, is a stony Florian asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 9 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 11 October 1936, by Finnish astronomer Yrjö Väisälä at Turku Observatory in Southwest Finland.
Kopff is a member of the Flora family, one of the largest collisional families of stony S-type asteroids in the main-belt. It orbits the Sun at a distance of 1.8–2.7 AU once every 3 years and 4 months (1,221 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.21 and an inclination of 7° with respect to the ecliptic. First identified as 1926 TH at Heidelberg in 1926, the body's observation arc begins with its official discovery observation at Turku in 1936.
In November 2003, a rotational light-curve of Kopff was obtained from remote photometric observations at the Tenagra and Tenagra II Observatories. The light-curve gave a well-defined rotation period of 6.683 hours with a brightness variation of 0.41 magnitude (U=3).
According to the surveys carried out by the Infrared Astronomical Satellite IRAS, the Japanese Akari satellite, and NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent NEOWISE mission, Kopff measures between 8.64 and 9.66 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo between 0.2497 and 0.342. The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link derives an albedo of 0.271 and a diameter of 9.71 kilometers, using an absolute magnitude of 12.1.
This minor planet was named for German astronomer August Kopff (1882–1960). He was first an assistant to Max Wolf, and became later a prolific discoverer of minor planets himself. In 1924, Kopff became Director of the Astronomisches Rechen-Institut in Berlin, and, after the western section moved to Heidelberg, he also became director of the Heidelberg Observatory. Under his leadership, the third Catalogue of Fundamental Stars (FK3) was compiled and the work on the fourth catalogue (FK4) was initiated. The lunar carter Kopff is also named in his honour. Naming citation was published before November 1977 (M.P.C. 3931).