Discovered by M. Antal MPC designation 1807 Slovakia Observation arc 87.64 yr (32,011 days) Orbits Sun Named after Slovakia (country) | Discovery date 20 August 1971 Minor planet category main-belt · (inner) Discovered 20 August 1971 Discoverer Milan Antal Asteroid group Asteroid belt | |
Alternative names 1971 QA · 1928 UE
1948 UC · 1951 JA
1951 QK · 1954 NA
1960 GB · 1971 TM1 Discovery site Skalnaté pleso Observatory People also search for Sun, 20991 Jánkollár, (7641) 1986 TT6 | ||
1807 Slovakia, provisional designation 1971 QA, is a stony asteroid and slow rotator from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 9 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 20 August 1971, by Slovak astronomer Milan Antal at Skalnaté pleso Observatory in the High Tatras mountains of Slovakia.
The S-type asteroid orbits the Sun at a distance of 1.8–2.6 AU once every 3 years and 4 months (1,213 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.18 and an inclination of 3° with respect to the ecliptic.of 1.8–2.6 AU once every 3 years and 4 months (1,213 days).
Slovakia has an exceptionally long rotation period of 308 hours with a high brightness variation of 1.10 magnitude (U=3-). The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link (CALL) adopts a period of 308.6 hours with an amplitude of 1.1 magnitude.
According to the survey carried out by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent NEOWISE mission, Slovakia measures 9.14 kilometers in diameter, and its surface has an albedo of 0.31, while CALL assumes a standard albedo for stony asteroids of 0.20 and calculates a diameter of 9.40 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 12.5
This minor planet was named in honor of the now independent state of Slovakia (Slovak Republic), the country where the discovering observatory is located. At the time Slovakia was still part of the socialistic republic of Czechoslovakia that was formed after World War I and lasted until the end of the Cold War (also see 2315 Czechoslovakia). Naming citation was published before November 1977 (M.P.C. 3508).