Discovery date 3 August 1970 Minor planet category main-belt · (outer) Absolute magnitude 10.9 Asteroid group Asteroid belt | MPC designation 2140 Kemerovo Discovered 3 August 1970 Orbits Sun | |
Discovered by L. ChernykhT. Smirnova Alternative names 1970 PE · 1926 AJ1940 WB · 1952 BH11957 BB · 1973 FY1974 MP · 1975 NM11975 QJ · 1975 RM1 People also search for 2141 Simferopol, 2139 Makharadze | ||
2140 Kemerovo, provisional designation 1970 PE, is a dark asteroid from the outer region of the asteroid belt, approximately 30 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 3 August 1970, by Russian female astronomers Lyudmila Chernykh and Tamara Smirnova at the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory on the Crimean peninsula.
The dark X-type asteroid is also classified as a rare and reddish P-type asteroid by NASA's space-based Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer. The body orbits the Sun at a distance of 2.8–3.2 AU once every 5 years and 2 months (1,886 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.06 and an inclination of 7° with respect to the ecliptic. The first used precovery was taken at Palomar Observatory in 1951, extending the asteroid's observation arc by 19 years prior to its discovery. The first (unused) observation at Bergedorf Observatory dates back to 1926.
Two rotational light-curves were obtained from photometric observations made by French astronomers René Roy, Laurent Bernasconi and Olivier Thizy in August 2001 and July 2006. Both light-curve gave a rotation period of 7000919999999999999♠9.2±0.6 hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.18 and 0.19 in magnitude, respectively (U=2/2). According to the space-based surveys carried out by the Infrared Astronomical Satellite IRAS, the Japanese Akari satellite (mid-infrared), and the NEOWISE mission, the asteroid measures between 29.5 and 37.9 kilometers in diameter, and its surface has an albedo between 0.05 and 0.09. The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link derives an albedo of 0.062 and calculates a diameter of 29.3 kilometers.
The minor planet is named after Kemerovo Oblast, the regional center of the Russian Kemerovo district, and a significant industrial center in Siberia. Naming citation was published on 8 February 1982 (M.P.C. 6647).