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2123 Vltava

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Discovered by
  
N. Chernykh

MPC designation
  
2123 Vltava

Minor planet category
  
main-belt · Koronis

Absolute magnitude
  
11.5

Asteroid family
  
Koronis family

Discovery date
  
22 September 1973

Named after
  
Vltava (river)

Discovered
  
22 September 1973

Discoverer
  
Nikolai Chernykh

Asteroid group
  
Asteroid belt

Alternative names
  
1973 SL2 · 1934 PB 1936 AE · 1942 EV 1951 AQ1 · 1954 UL 1956 AJ · 1956 CE 1964 VZ · 1975 AR 1977 JB1 · 1978 SO

Discovery site
  
Crimean Astrophysical Observatory

People also search for
  
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2123 Vltava, provisional designation 1973 SL2, is a stony Koronis asteroid from the outer region of the asteroid belt, approximately 15 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 22 September 1973, by Soviet–Russian astronomer Nikolai Chernykh at the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory on the Crimean peninsula in Nauchnyj.

The S-type asteroid is a member of the Koronis family, which is named after 158 Koronis and consists of about 300 known bodies with nearly co-planar ecliptical orbits. The asteroid orbits the Sun at a distance of 2.6–3.1 AU once every 4 years and 10 months (1,766 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.08 and an inclination of 1° with respect to the ecliptic. Due to a precovery taken at Heidelberg Observatory in 1934, the asteroid's observation arc is extended by 39 years prior to its discovery.

Between 1998 and 2005, a survey by seven different observatories obtained a large number of rotational light-curves from members of the Koronis family. For this asteroid, the survey gave an ambiguous rotation period of 34.0 hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.21 in magnitude (U=2). In 2014, photometric observations at the U.S. Palomar Transient Factory rendered a light-curve with an alternative solution of 7001162954000000000♠16.2954±0.0282 hours, or about half the period previously found, with an amplitude of 0.19 (U=2).

According to the surveys carried out by the international Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS), the Japanese Akari satellite, and the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, the asteroid measures between 14.4 and 15.1 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo between 0.20 and 0.22.

The minor planet was named for the Vltava (Moldau), the longest river within the Czech Republic, running through the city of Prague. Naming citation was published on 1 April 1980 (M.P.C. 5283).

References

2123 Vltava Wikipedia