Discovery date 12 October 1964 Minor planet category main-belt · (middle) Absolute magnitude 11.4 | MPC designation 1728 Goethe Link Discovered 12 October 1964 Orbits Sun Asteroid group Asteroid belt | |
Named after Dr Goethe Link(observatory's founder) Alternative names 1964 TO · 1943 OA1952 WH · 1955 KE1956 VD · 1964 UB1967 JD | ||
1728 Goethe Link, provisional designation 1964 TO, is a stony asteroid and relatively slow rotator from the middle region of the asteroid belt, approximately 16 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 12 October 1964, by Indiana University during its Indiana Asteroid Program at Goethe Link Observatory in Brooklyn, Indiana, United States.
The S-type asteroid orbits the Sun at a distance of 2.3–2.8 AU once every 4 years and 1 month (1,499 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.09 and an inclination of 7° with respect to the ecliptic. Goethe Link was first identified as 1943 OA at Heidelberg Observatory in 1943, extending the body's observation arc by 21 years prior to its official discovery observation.
In October 2005, a rotational light-curve of Goethe Link was obtained by French amateur astronomer Laurent Bernasconi. It gave a long rotation period of 81 hours with a brightness variation of 0.39 magnitude (U=2).
According to the surveys carried out the Japanese Akari satellite and NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent NEOWISE mission, Goethe Link measures 14.58 and 18.18 kilometers in diameter, and its surface has an albedo of 0.194 and 0.251, respectively. The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo for stony asteroids of 0.20 and calculates a diameter of 15.60 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 11.4.
The minor planet was named in honor of Indianapolis surgeon Dr. Goethe Link. He was an enthusiastic amateur astronomer and generous supporter of astronomy, who built the Goethe Link Observatory in the late 1930s and donated it to Indiana University in 1948. Naming citation was published before November 1977 (M.P.C. 2882).