Discovery date 29 October 1951 Minor planet category main-belt · (outer) Absolute magnitude 11.9 Discovery site Goethe Link Observatory Discoverer Indiana Asteroid Program | MPC designation 1953 Rupertwildt Discovered 29 October 1951 Orbits Sun Asteroid group Asteroid belt | |
Discovered by Indiana University
(Indiana Asteroid Program) Named after Rupert Wildt (astronomer) Alternative names 1951 UK · 1929 VC
1929 WD · 1934 RJ
1951 WG · 1958 BD | ||
1953 Rupertwildt, provisionally designated 1951 UK, is an asteroid from the outer region of the asteroid belt, approximately 22 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 29 October 1951, by the Indiana Asteroid Program of Indiana University at its Goethe Link Observatory, Indiana, United States.
The outer-belt asteroid orbits the Sun at a distance of 2.5–3.7 AU once every 5 years and 6 months (2,002 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.18 and an inclination of 2° with respect to the ecliptic. Due to a precovery taken at Lowell Observatory in 1929, the asteroid's observation arc begins 22 years before its discovery. As of 2016, its effective size, composition and albedo, as well as its rotation period and shape remain unknown.
According to the surveys carried out by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent NEOWISE mission, the asteroid measures 22.0 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo of 0.070. Assuming an albedo in the range of 0.05 to 0.25, the asteroid measures between 12 and 26 kilometers in diameter, based on an absolute magnitude of 11.9.
It was named in memory of German–American astronomer Rupert Wildt (1905–1976), professor of Astronomy at Yale University. In 1966, he was awarded the Eddington Medal by the Royal Astronomical Society for his discovery of the importance of negative hydrogen ions as a contributor to the solar atmosphere's opacity. He was one of the first to construct a model of the composition of the giant planets, as he recognized that the hydrogen-rich methane (CH4) and ammonia (NH3) are responsible for the absorption bands at red wavelengths. In the 1960s and 1970s, Wildt was chairman, president and the first scientific representative on the board of AURA. Naming citation was published on 6 June 1982 (M.P.C. 6954). The lunar crater Wildt is also named in his honour.