Discovered by K. Reinmuth MPC designation 1726 Hoffmeister Discovered 24 July 1933 Orbits Sun Named after Cuno Hoffmeister | Discovery date 24 July 1933 Observation arc 91.81 yr (33,532 days) Aphelion 2.9 m Discoverer Karl Wilhelm Reinmuth | |
Alternative names 1933 OE · 1955 FC
1955 HX · 1957 WD
A924 UA Minor planet category main-belt · (middle)
Hoffmeister family Discovery site Landessternwarte Heidelberg-Königstuhl Similar Asteroid belt, Sun, Solar System, 170 Maria, 142 Polana | ||
1726 Hoffmeister, provisional designation 1933 OE, is a carbonaceous asteroid from the middle region of the asteroid belt, approximately 23 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered by German astronomer Karl Reinmuth at Heidelberg Observatory on 24 July 1933.
The dark C-type asteroid has a Cb-subtype in the SMASS taxonomy. It is the lowest-numbered and probably the largest member of the small and very compact dynamical Hoffmeister family, which, based upon its low albedo, was most likely formed from the breakup of a 50–100 kilometer-sized, carbon-rich parent body within the past several hundred million years. It orbits the Sun at a distance of 2.7–2.9 AU once every 4 years and 8 months (1,700 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.04 and an inclination of 3° with respect to the ecliptic. It was first identified as "1924 UA" at the U.S. Yerkes Observatory in 1924, extending the asteroid's observation arc by 9 years prior to its discovery.
According to the survey carried out by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent NEOWISE mission, the asteroid measures between 22.5 and 25.4 kilometers in diameter and its surface has a low albedo between 0.036 and 0.042, while the Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo for carbonaceous asteroids of 0.057 and calculates a diameter of 17.4 kilometers, based on an absolute magnitude of 12.53.
In December 2009, a rotational light-curve was obtained for this asteroid from photometric observations at the Palomar Transient Factory in California. It gave a rotation period of 7001117058000000000♠11.7058±0.0056 hours with a brightness variation of 0.40 magnitude (U=2).
This minor planet was named in memory of German astronomer Cuno Hoffmeister (1892–1968), who founded the Sonneberg Observatory in 1925 and became one of its directors (see 1039 Sonneberga). Hoffmeister discovered thousands of variable stars, co-discovererd comet C/1959 O1, thoroughly investigated a large number of meteors, and discovererd 5 minor planets: 2183 Neufang, 3203 Huth, 3674 Erbisbühl, 4183 Cuno (which was later named after him) and 4724 Brocken. The lunar crater Hoffmeister was also named in his honor. Naming citation was published before November 1977 (M.P.C. 3933).