Discovered by LINEAR MPC designation 17198 Gorjup Discovered 3 January 2000 Orbits Sun Discovery site Experimental Test Site | Discovery date 3 January 2000 Minor planet category main-belt · Flora Aphelion 2.51 m Asteroid family Flora family Asteroid group Asteroid belt | |
Named after Niko Gorjup
(ISEF awardee) Alternative names 2000 AA31 · 1990 EH6
1998 QU102 Discoverer Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research | ||
17198 Gorjup, provisional designation 2000 AA31, is a stony Flora asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 2.7 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 3 January 2000, by the Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research team (LINEAR) at the U.S. Lincoln Laboratory Experimental Test Site in Socorro, New Mexico.
The S-type asteroid is a member of the Flora family, one of the largest groups of stony asteroids in the main-belt. It orbits the Sun at a distance of 2.0–2.5 AU once every 3 years and 5 months (1,257 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.10 and an inclination of 3° with respect to the ecliptic. Gorjup was first identified as 1990 EH6 at ESO's La Silla Observatory in 1990, extending the asteroid's observation arc by 10 years prior to its discovery.
A rotational light-curve for this asteroid was obtained from photometric observations made by Czech astronomer Petr Pravec at Ondřejov Observatory in August 2008. The light-curve gave a well-defined rotation period of 7000324300000000000♠3.2430±0.0005 hours with a brightness variation of 0.12 in magnitude (U=3). The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes an albedo of 0.24 – derived from 8 Flora the orbital family's largest member and namesake – and calculates a diameter of 2.71 kilometers.
The minor planet was named after Slovenian Niko Gorjup (b. 1984) an awardee in the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) in 2003. At the time, he attended the Solski Center Nova Gorica, Gimnazija, Nova Gorica, Slovenia. Naming citation was published on 14 June 2004 (M.P.C. 52173).