Discovery date 15 December 1957 Minor planet category main-belt · (outer) Discovered 15 December 1957 Orbits Sun Asteroid group Asteroid belt | MPC designation 1853 McElroy Observation arc 65.52 yr (23,932 days) Absolute magnitude 10.8 | |
Alternative names 1957 XE · 1930 YP1950 NX · 1950 OM Named after William D. McElroy (biochemist) | ||
1853 McElroy, provisional designation 1957 XE, is an asteroid from the outer region of the asteroid belt, approximately 21 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 15 December 1957, by the Indiana Asteroid Program at Goethe Link Observatory near Brooklyn, Indiana, United States.
McElroy is classified as a generic X-type and carbonaceous C-type asteroid by the LCDB and PanSTARRS, respectively. It orbits the Sun at a distance of 2.9–3.2 AU once every 5 years and 4 months (1,959 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.05 and an inclination of 16° with respect to the ecliptic. McElroy was first identified as 1930 YP at Lowell Observatory in 1930. However the observation remained unused and the body's observation arc begins with its official discovery in 1957.
Between 2004 and 2011, three roational light-curves of were obtained at Brian D. Warner's Palmer Divide Observatory and at the Palomar Transient Factory, respectively. They gave a rotation period between 8.016 and 8.026 hours with a brightness variation of 0.18–0.30 magnitude (U=3-/2/2).
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, McElroy measures between 17.47 and 24.07 kilometers in diameter, and its surface has an albedo of 0.197 to 0.304. The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link derives an albedo of 0.194 and a diameter of 20.89 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 10.8.
This minor planet was named in honor of American biochemist William David McElroy (1917–1999), chairman of the biology department at Johns Hopkins University during the 1950s and 1960s, later director of the National Science Foundation (NSF) in the early 1970s and chancellor of the University of California at San Diego from until 1980. During his tenure as director of NSF the U.S. government decided to fund the Very Large Array, now officially known as the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array. Naming citation was published on 1 August 1980 (M.P.C. 5450).