Discovered by L. Kohoutek Discovery date 22 August 1969 Alternative names 1969 QP Orbital period 1,921 days Orbits Sun Asteroid family Eos family | Discovery site Bergedorf Obs. MPC designation 1834 Palach Minor planet category main-belt · Eos Discovered 22 August 1969 Discoverer Luboš Kohoutek | |
Named after Jan Palach (Czech student) Similar Sun, Comet Kohoutek, 1865 Cerberus | ||
1834 Palach, provisional designation 1969 QP, is a stony Eoan asteroid from the outer region of the asteroid belt, approximately 19 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 22 August 1969 by Czech astronomer Luboš Kohoutek at Bergedorf Observatory in Hamburg, Germany.
The S-type asteroid is a member of the Eos family, an orbital group of more than 4,000 asteroids, which are well known for mostly being of stony composition with a relatively high albedo. It orbits the Sun at a distance of 2.8–3.2 AU once every 5 years and 3 months (1,922 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.07 and an inclination of 9° with respect to the ecliptic. As no precoveries were taken, and no prior identifications were made, Palach's observation arc begins with its official discovery observation in 1969.
In September 2006, a rotational light-curve for Palach was obtained from photometric observations made by French amateur astronomer Laurent Bernasconi at St. Michel sur Meu. It gave a rotation period of 3.139 hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.16 magnitude (U=2). In May 2010, a second light-curve, obtained by Zachary Pligge at Oakley Southern Sky Observatory, Australia, gave a period of 3.1358 hours with an amplitude of 0.13 (U=2).
According to the surveys carried out by the Japanese Akari satellite and NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent NEOWISE mission, Palach measures between 17.16 and 20.23 kilometers in diameter, and its surface has an albedo between 0.109 and 0.151. The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo for Eoan asteroids of 0.14 and calculates a diameter of 19.52 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 11.3.
It was named in memory of Czech student Jan Palach, who burned himself to death, as a protest against the Soviet occupation of Czechoslovakia that followed and ended the national reform movement known as the Prague Spring. Naming citation was published on 25 August 1991 (M.P.C. 18643).