Discovered by L. V. Zhuravleva MPC designation 23436 Alekfursenko Discovered 21 October 1982 Orbits Sun Asteroid group Asteroid belt | Discovery date 21 October 1982 Minor planet category main-belt · (outer) Absolute magnitude 13.7 Discoverer Lyudmila Zhuravleva | |
Named after Aleksandr Fursenko
(historian) Alternative names 1982 UF8 · 1982 VU6
1982 VZ10 · 1987 QP2
1999 XD167 Discovery site Crimean Astrophysical Observatory | ||
23436 Alekfursenko, provisional designation 1982 UF8, is a carbonaceous asteroid from the outer region of the asteroid belt, approximately 8 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 21 October 1982, by Russian–Ukrainian astronomer Lyudmila Zhuravleva at the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory, Nauchnyj, on the Crimean peninsula.
The dark C-type asteroid orbits the Sun at a distance of 2.5–3.8 AU once every 5 years and 7 months (2,048 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.20 and an inclination of 4° with respect to the ecliptic. The asteroid's observation arc begins with its discovery observation in 1982, as neither precoveries nor prior identifications were obtained.
A rotational light-curve of this asteroid was obtained from photometric observations made at the U.S. Palomar Transient Factory in November 2010. The light-curve gave a rotation period of 7000362770000000000♠3.6277±0.0004 hours with a brightness variation of 0.42 in magnitude (U=2). According to the survey carried out by the NEOWISE mission of NASA's space-based Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, the asteroid measures 8.4 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo of 0.08, while the Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo for carbonaceous asteroids of 0.057 and calculates a diameter of 8.0 kilometers, based on an absolute magnitude of 14.22.
The minor planet was named in honour of Russian historian Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Fursenko (1927–2008), expert in topics such as international relations, U.S. history, and Russian foreign economic policy. He was also a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Naming citation was published on 24 November 2007 (M.P.C. 61268).