Discovered by L. Kohoutek MPC designation 1897 Hind Minor planet category main-belt · Flora Orbits Sun Asteroid family Flora family Asteroid group Asteroid belt | Discovery date 26 October 1971 Alternative names 1971 UE1 · 1957 SG Discovered 26 October 1971 Discoverer Luboš Kohoutek Discovery site Hamburg Observatory | |
Named after John Russell Hind
(astronomer) Similar Asteroid belt, Sun, R Leporis, NGC 1555, Comet Kohoutek | ||
1897 Hind, provisional designation 1971 UE1, is a Florian asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 5 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 26 October 1971, by Czech astronomer Luboš Kohoutek at Bergedorf Observatory in Hamburg, Germany.
The S-type asteroid is a member of the Flora family, one of the largest groups of stony asteroids in the main-belt. It orbits the Sun at a distance of 2.0–2.6 AU once every 3 years and 5 months (1,260 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.14 and an inclination of 4° with respect to the ecliptic. The first precovery was taken at Palomar Observatory in 1956, extending the asteroid's observation arc by 15 years prior to its discovery.
According to the survey carried out by the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, the asteroid measures 5.0 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo of 0.307, while the Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo of 0.24 – derived from 8 Flora, the family's largest member and namesake – and calculates a diameter of 5.7 kilometers, based on an absolute magnitude of 13.4.
In July 2005, Hind had originally been identified as a relatively fast rotator, as photometric observations by astronomers Reiner Stoss, Jaime Nomen, Salvador Sanchez and Raoul Behrend gave a rotation period of 6999820000000000000♠0.82±0.01 hours, or less than 50 minutes (U=1). However, the light-curve was only fragmentary. In August 2012, it was superseded with more accurate observation at the Australian Riverland Dingo Observatory that gave a slower period of 7000263360000000000♠2.6336±0.0001 hours with a brightness variation of 0.09 in magnitude (U=2).
The minor planet was named after English astronomer John Russell Hind (1823–1895), discoverer of ten minor planets including 7 Iris and 8 Flora, the namesake of the family the asteroid belongs to. Hind worked for many years at George Bishop's Observatory near London where he made his discoveries. He was also superintendent of the British Nautical Almanac Office in the second half of the 19th century. Naming citation was published before November 1977 (M.P.C. 3827).