Discovered by M. Itzigsohn MPC designation 1801 Titicaca Discovered 23 September 1952 | Discovery date 23 September 1952 Alternative names 1952 SP1 · 1963 UR Observation arc 64.12 yr (23,419 days) Orbits Sun Asteroid group Asteroid belt | |
Discovery site La Plata Astronomical Observatory | ||
1801 Titicaca, provisional designation 1952 SP1, is a stony Eoan asteroid from the asteroid belt, approximately 22 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 23 September 1952, by Argentine astronomer Miguel Itzigsohn at La Plata Observatory in the capital of the province of Buenos Aires.
The S-type asteroid is a member of the Eos family, a collisional population of mostly stony composition of more than 4,000 asteroids. It orbits the Sun at a distance of 2.8–3.2 AU once every 5 years and 3 months (1,916 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.07 and an inclination of 11° with respect to the ecliptic. As no precoveries were taken, and no prior identifications were made, Titicaca's observation arc begins with its official discovery observation.
In March 2007, a rotational light-curve of Titicaca was obtained from photometric observations taken by German amateur astronomer Axel Martin. It gave a well-defined rotation period of 3.2106 hours with a brightness variation of 0.50 in magnitude (U=3). A 2006-published light-curve, constructed from photometry data from the Lowell photometric database, gave a concurring period of 3.211233 hours.
According to the surveys carried out by the Infrared Astronomical Satellite IRAS, the Japanese Akari satellite, and NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent NEOWISE mission, Titicaca measures between 19.31 and 24.77 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo between 0.11 and 0.18. The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link derives an albedo of 0.109 and a diameter of 23.08 kilometers.
The asteroid is named after Lake Titicaca in the Andes, on the border of Peru and Bolivia at an altitude of 3,812 metres (12,507 feet) above sea level, the largest lake by volume in South America and one of the largest and highest lakes in the world. Naming citation was published on 8 April 1982 (M.P.C. 6832).