Discovery date 24 September 1960 Minor planet category main-belt · (middle) Absolute magnitude 11.9 Discovery site Palomar Observatory | MPC designation 1965 van de Kamp Discovered 24 September 1960 Orbits Sun Asteroid group Asteroid belt | |
Discovered by C. J. van Houten
I. van Houten-G.
T. Gehrels Named after Peter van de Kamp
(astronomer) Alternative names 2521 P-L · 1927 QG
1956 TN Discoverers Tom Gehrels, Cornelis Johannes van Houten, Ingrid van Houten-Groeneveld People also search for Sun, 9511 Klingsor, 11767 Milne | ||
1965 van de Kamp, provisional designation 2521 P-L, is a stony asteroid from the middle region of the asteroid belt, approximately 12 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 24 September 1960, by Dutch astronomer couple Ingrid and Cornelis van Houten at Leiden Observatory, on photographic plates taken by Dutch–American astronomer Tom Gehrels at the U.S Palomar Observatory, California.
The S-type asteroid orbits the Sun at a distance of 2.3–2.8 AU once every 4 years and 1 month (1,503 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.11 and an inclination of 2° with respect to the ecliptic. The asteroid was first identified as 1927 QG at Heidelberg Observatory in 1927. Its first used observation was taken at Goethe Link Observatory in 1956, extending the body's observation arc by 4 years prior to its official discovery observation.
In February 2011, a fragmentary and inconclusive rotational light-curve was obtained for this asteroid. It gave a longer than average rotation period of at least 36 hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.5 magnitude (U=1).
According to the surveys carried out by the Japanese Akari satellite and NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent NEOWISE mission, the asteroid measures 11.8 and 13.6 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo of 0.151 and 0.225, respectively. The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo for stony asteroids of 0.20 and calculates a diameter of 11.3 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 12.1.
The survey designation "P-L" stands for Palomar–Leiden, named after Palomar Observatory and Leiden Observatory, which collaborated on the fruitful Palomar–Leiden survey in the 1960s. Gehrels used Palomar's Samuel Oschin telescope (also known as the 48-inch Schmidt Telescope), and shipped the photographic plates to Ingrid and Cornelis van Houten at Leiden Observatory where astrometry was carried out. The trio are credited with the discovery of several thousand minor planets.
The asteroid was named after Dutch astronomer Peter van de Kamp (1901–1995), director of Sproul Observatory and known for his research on astrometric binaries. Naming citation was published on 1 December 1979 (M.P.C. 5038).