Discovery date 4 April 1949 Orbits Sun | MPC designation 1798 Watts Discovered 4 April 1949 Asteroid group Asteroid belt | |
Named after Chester Watts(astronomer) Alternative names 1949 GC · 1934 VS1937 RL · 1970 YB1973 UD6 People also search for Sun, 8 Flora, 915 Cosette, 967 Helionape, 3412 Kafka, 428 Monachia | ||
1798 Watts, provisional designation 1949 GC, is a stony asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 7 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 4 April 1949, by IU's Indiana Asteroid Program at Goethe Link Observatory near Brooklyn, Indiana, United States.
The asteroid is a member of the Flora family, a large group of stony S-type asteroids in the inner main-belt. It orbits the Sun at a distance of 1.9–2.5 AU once every 3 years and 3 months (1,191 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.12 and an inclination of 6° with respect to the ecliptic. Watts was first observed and identified as 1934 VS at Yerkes Observatory in 1934, extending the body's observation arc by 15 years prior to its official discovery observation.
According to the survey carried out by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent NEOWISE mission, Watts measures 6.63 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo between 0.276 and 0.294. The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes an albedo of 0.24 – derived from 8 Flora, the largest member and namesake of this asteroid family – and calculates a diameter of 7.14 kilometers, based on an absolute magnitude of 12.9. As of 2017, Watts's rotation period and shape remain unknown.
The minor planet was named in honour of American astronomer Chester Burleigh Watts (1889–1971), a graduate of Indiana University. He worked at the United States Naval Observatory for 44 years, making distinguished contributions in the field of positional astronomy and pioneered in the field of automation of transit circle observations, which led to results of the highest systematic accuracy. From the late 1940 until 1963 he meticulously mapped every feature on the marginal zone of the Moon. Naming citation was published before November 1977 (M.P.C. 3508).