Discovery date 24 January 1998 Alternative names 1998 BH10 Discovered 24 January 1998 Inclination 7.1201° Asteroid group Asteroid belt | MPC designation 16879 Campai Minor planet category main-belt · (middle) Aphelion 2.83 m Orbits Sun | |
Discovered by A. BoattiniM. Tombelli Named after Paolo Campai(amateur astronomer) Discoverers | ||
16879 Campai, provisional designation 1998 BH10, is carbonaceous asteroid and slow rotator from the middle region of the asteroid belt, approximately 11 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 24 January 1998, by Italian astronomers Andrea Boattini and Maura Tombelli at the Pistoia Mountains Astronomical Observatory in San Marcello Pistoiese, Tuscany, central Italy.
The dark C-type asteroid orbits the Sun at a distance of 2.7–2.8 AU once every 4 years and 7 months (1,675 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.02 and an inclination of 7° with respect to the ecliptic. The first precovery was obtained at Siding Spring Observatory in 1977, extending the asteroid's observation arc by 22 years prior to its discovery.
A rotational light-curve for this asteroid was obtained from photometric observations made at the U.S. Palomar Transient Factory in October 2010. It rendered an exceptionally long period of 7002314246800000000♠314.2468±4.9149 hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.68 in magnitude (U=2). While the result is based on less than full coverage, and may be refined by future observations, the body is one of the slowest rotating asteroids known to exist. The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link calculates a diameter of 10.5 kilometers, based on an absolute magnitude of 13.6 and an assumed standard albedo for carbonaceous asteroids of 0.057.
The minor planet is named for amateur astronomer Paolo Campai (b. 1957) from Florence, who is specialized in teaching and astrophotography. Both discoverers made his acquaintance near Florence on a night in 1985, while observing comet 1P/Halley and α Phoenicis. Naming citation was published on 6 August 2003 (M.P.C. 49281).