Discovered by J. A. Bruwer MPC designation 1660 Wood Observation arc 85.24 yr (31,134 days) Aphelion 3.12 m Discoverer Jacobus A. Bruwer Discovery site Union Observatory | Discovery date 7 April 1953 Discovered 7 April 1953 Orbits Sun Asteroid group Asteroid belt | |
Alternative names 1953 GA · 1931 KL1933 YC · 1951 RD11955 VQ | ||
1660 Wood, provisional designation 1953 GA, is a stony Phocaea asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 12 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 7 April 1953, by South African astronomer Jacobus Bruwer at Johannesburg Observatory in South Africa.
Wood is a S-type asteroid and member of the Phocaea family. It orbits the Sun at a distance of 1.7–3.1 AU once every 3 years and 9 months (1,354 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.30 and an inclination of 21° with respect to the ecliptic. It was first identified as 1931 KL at Lowell Observatory in 1931, extending the body's observation arc by 22 years prior to its official discovery observation.
From January to March 2012, four rotational light-curves of Wood were obtained from photometric observations taken by astronomers Julian Oey, Kevin Hills, and Xianming Han. The light-curves gave a concurring rotation period of 6.809 hours with a brightness variation between of 0.14 and 0.26 magnitude (U=3/3/3/2+).
According to the survey carried out by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent NEOWISE mission, Wood measures 11.34 kilometers in diameter, and its surface has an albedo of 0.239. The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes an albedo of 0.23 and calculates a diameter of 12.67 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 11.7.
This asteroid was named for British–South African astronomer Harry Edwin Wood (1881–1946), who was the second director of the Union Observatory at which the asteroid was discovered, and who had discovered 12 asteroids himself between 1911 and 1928. He had the prime responsibility for the famous Franklin-Adams Star Camera (Franklin-Adams photographic refractor) since its acquisition in 1909 (also see 1925 Franklin-Adams). Naming citation was published before November 1977 (M.P.C. 3297).
Wood was the second numbered discovery of astronomer Jacobus Bruwer. In addition, he also discovered the minor planets 1658 Innes, 1794 Finsen, and 3284 Niebuhr. The asteroid 1811 Bruwer was named in his honour by the Dutch, Dutch-American astronomer trio of the Palomar–Leiden survey.