Discovered by W. K. Yeung MPC designation 19848 Yeungchuchiu Discovered 2 October 2000 Discoverer William Kwong Yu Yeung Discovery site Desert Beaver Observatory | Discovery date 2 October 2000 Minor planet category main-belt · Eos Orbits Sun Asteroid family Eos family Asteroid group Asteroid belt | |
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Named after Chu Chiu Yeung
(discoverer's father) Alternative names 2000 TR · 1998 KR38
1999 SY6 People also search for Sun, (32618) 2001 QL293 | ||
19848 Yeungchuchiu, provisional designation 2000 TR, is a stony Eos asteroid from the outer region of the asteroid belt, approximately 12 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered by Canadian amateur astronomer William Yeung at the U.S. Desert Beaver Observatory in Arizona, on 2 October 2000. It is the largest minor planet found by the discoverer, just 1°.2 west of Jupiter.
The S-type asteroid is a member of the Eos family, an orbital group of more than 4,000 asteroids, which are known for mostly being of stony composition. It orbits the Sun at a distance of 2.8–3.2 AU once every 5 years and 3 months (1,905 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.08 and an inclination of 11° with respect to the ecliptic. The first precovery was taken at the Australian Siding Spring Observatory in 1982, extending the asteroid's observation arc by 18 years prior to its discovery.
In 2005, a photometric light-curve analysis by the discoverer at the Desert Eagle Observatory in Arizona, rendered a well-defined rotation period of 7000345000000000000♠3.450±0.002 hours with a brightness variation of 0.70 in magnitude (U=3). The large amplitude suggests that the body is of non-spherical shape and that the long axis is almost twice as long as the short axis. It is likely that the rotational axis was almost perpendicular to the observation's line-of-sight. A second light-curve was obtained at the Palomar Transient Factory in September 2010, and gave a concurring period of 7000345080000000000♠3.4508±0.0003 hours with an amplitude of 0.63 in magnitude (U=2).
According to the surveys carried out by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer and its subsequent NEOWISE mission, the asteroid measures 11.7 and 13.2 kilometers in diameter with an albedo for its surface of 0.17 and 0.21, respectively. The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link also assumes an albedo of 0.21 and calculates a diameter of 12.9 kilometers for the stony asteroid.
The minor planet was named by the discoverer after his father, Chu Chiu Yeung (b. 1925), in gratitude for his unconditional support. Naming citation was published on 9 March 2001 (M.P.C. 42368).