Discovered by T. Smirnova MPC designation 2011 Veteraniya Discovered 30 August 1970 Discoverer Tamara Smirnova Asteroid group Asteroid belt | Discovery date 30 August 1970 Minor planet category main-belt · Vestian Orbits Sun Asteroid family Vesta family | |
Named after veterans
(Soviet veterans World War II) Alternative names 1970 QB1 · 1955 RE
1955 SN1 · 1959 UA Discovery site Crimean Astrophysical Observatory Similar Asteroid belt, Solar System, Sun, 4 Vesta, 306 Unitas | ||
2011 Veteraniya, provisional designation 1970 QB1, is a stony Vestian asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 6 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 30 August 1970, by Russian astronomer Tamara Smirnova at the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory, Nauchnyj, on the Crimean peninsula.
The asteroid is a member of the Vesta family. It orbits the Sun at a distance of 2.0–2.7 AU once every 3 years and 8 months (1,348 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.15 and an inclination of 6° with respect to the ecliptic. The first precovery was taken at Palomar Observatory in 1950, extending the asteroid's observation arc by 20 years prior to its discovery.
The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link (CALL) and Pan-STARRS' large-scale survey classify it as a S-type and V-type asteroid, respectively. According to the survey carried out by the NEOWISE mission of NASA's space-based Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, the asteroid's surface has an exceptionally high albedo of 0.46 and a corresponding diameter of 5.2 kilometers, while CALL assumes a standard albedo for stony asteroids of 0.20. CALL therefore calculates a larger diameter of 7.8 kilometers, as the lower the albedo (reflectivity), the higher the body's diameter at a constant absolute magnitude (brightness). A photometric light-curve analysis by Japanese astronomer Sunao Hasegawa in 2004 has given a rotation period of 7000820900000000000♠8.209±0.005 hours with a brightness amplitude of 6999300000000000000♠0.30 in magnitude.
The minor planet was named in honor of the Soviet veterans of the Great Patriotic War. (The term is used in Russia to describe the conflict fought between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany on the Eastern Front of World War II during 1941–1945.) Naming citation was published before November 1979 (M.P.C. 4481).