Discovered by L. Chernykh MPC designation 1771 Makover | Discovery date 24 January 1968 | |
Discovery site Crimean Astrophysical Obs. Named after Samuel Makover (astronomer) Alternative names 1968 BD · 1937 LM
1938 QJ · 1941 FH
1950 XW · 1952 FU
1958 HF · 1961 XV
1966 UC | ||
1771 Makover, provisional designation 1968 BD, is a carbonaceous asteroid from the outer region of the asteroid belt, approximately 50 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 24 January 1968, by Russian astronomer Lyudmila Chernykh at the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory in Nauchnyj on the Crimean peninsula.
The dark C-type asteroid orbits the Sun at a distance of 2.6–3.7 AU once every 5 years and 6 months (2,015 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.18 and an inclination of 11° with respect to the ecliptic. At Johannesburg Observatory, Makover was first identified as 1937 LM in 1937. Its first used observation was made at the same observatory one year later, when it was identified as 1938 QJ, extending the body's observation arc by 30 years prior to its official discovery observation.
In December 2011, a rotational light-curve of Makover was obtained by astronomer Andrea Ferrero from photometric observation. It gave a well-defined rotation period of 11.26 hours with a brightness variation of 0.25 magnitude (U=3).
According to the survey carried out by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent NEOWISE mission, Makover measures between 46.89 and 63.59 kilometers in diameter, and its surface has an albedo between 0.025 and 0.072. The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link derives an albedo of 0.0382 and a diameter of 56.59 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 10.4.
The minor planet was named in honor of Russian astronomer Samuel Makover (1908–1970), who studied extensively the orbit of Encke's Comet (referred to as Comet Encke-Backlund in Russia), and pioneered in the use of electronic calculators for computing planetary perturbations and orbit improvements. He was head of the Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics's department of minor planets and comets, and editor of the annual volume of Minor Planet Ephemerides. He was also a vice-president of IAU's commission 20, Positions & Motions of Minor Planets, Comets & Satellites, in the 1960s. Naming citation was published before November 1977 (M.P.C. 3185).