Discovered by P. Wild Minor planet category main-belt · (middle) Orbits Sun Asteroid group Asteroid belt | Discovery date 24 November 1973 Discovered 24 November 1973 | |
Alternative names 1973 WD · 1936 LC1949 KE1 · 1951 WX1964 VA1 · 1970 AG11970 AL1 · 1970 CD Similar Sun, 145 Adeona, 3552 Don Quixote, 81P/Wild | ||
1936 Lugano, provisional designation 1973 WD, is a carbonaceous asteroid from the middle region of the asteroid belt, approximately 28 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered by Swiss astronomer Paul Wild at Zimmerwald Observatory near Bern, Switzerland, on 24 November 1973.
It orbits the Sun at a distance of 2.3–3.0 AU once every 4 years and 5 months (1,599 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.14 and an inclination of 10° with respect to the ecliptic. The first used precovery was taken at McDonald Observatory in 1951, extending the asteroid's observation arc by 22 years prior to its discovery. The first unused observation at Johannesburg dates back to 1936.
The C-type asteroid is also classified as a Ch-subtype in the SMASS taxonomic scheme, while the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) rates it as a very dark and featureless reddish P-type asteroid.
According to the space-based surveys carried out by the Infrared Astronomical Satellite IRAS, the Japanese Akari satellite, and the U.S. WISE/NEOWISE mission, the asteroid measures between 24.8 and 33.7 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo in the range of 0.028 to 0.104. The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link derives an albedo of 0.056 and a diameter of 24.6 kilometers, based on an absolute magnitude of 11.8.
Two rotational light-curves of this asteroid were obtained from photometric observations made in February 2005. The first light-curve by French astronomer Raymond Poncy gave a rotation period of 7001195940000000000♠19.594±0.007 hours with a brightness variation of 0.25 magnitude (U=2). The second light-curve from the U.S. Carbuncle Hill Observatory (912), Rhode Island, rendered a well-defined period of 7001196510000000000♠19.651±0.015 with an amplitude of 0.31 in magnitude (U=3).
The asteroid is named after the Swiss-Italian city of Lugano, located south of the Alps and known for its mild climate. During the winter half-year of 1973/74, Paul Wild discovered three more asteroids, 1935 Lucerna, 1937 Locarno and 1938 Lausanna, which he named after the Swiss cities Lucerne, Locarno and Lausanne, respectively, composing a quartet of sequentially numbered, thematically named asteroids. Naming citation was published before November 1977 (M.P.C. 4358).