Discovered by M. B. Protić MPC designation 2348 Michkovitch Discovered 10 January 1939 Orbits Sun Asteroid group Asteroid belt | Discovery date 10 January 1939 Minor planet category main-belt · Erigone Absolute magnitude 12.4 Discoverer Milorad B. Protić | |
Named after Vojislav Mišković(astronomer) Alternative names 1939 AA · 1958 GR1965 DA · 1975 XA51978 QH1 Discovery site Belgrade Astronomical Observatory People also search for Sun, 2244 Tesla, 1550 Tito, 1517 Beograd, 1564 Srbija, 1675 Simonida, 1554 Yugoslavia | ||
2348 Michkovitch, provisional designation 1939 AA, is a presumed carbonaceous Erigone asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, calculated to measure approximately 15 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered by Serbian astronomer Milorad Protić at Belgrade Observatory on 10 January 1939.
The asteroid is a member of the Erigone family, named after 163 Erigone, its largest member and namesake. It is a rather young cluster (170–280 My) of dark C-type bodies in the inner main belt, which otherwise consists mostly of stony asteroids. It orbits the Sun at a distance of 2.0–2.8 AU once every 3 years and 9 months (1,355 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.17 and an inclination of 5° with respect to the ecliptic. No precoveries were taken. The asteroid's observation arc starts 15 days after its official discovery with the first used observation taken at the Royal Observatory of Belgium.
A 2011-published rotational light-curve for this asteroid obtained from photometric observations by Australian amateur astronomer David Higgins gave a longer-than average rotation period of 28 hours with a brightness variation of 0.12 in magnitude (U=2).
According to the survey carried out by the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, the asteroid measures 4.6 and 4.8 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an outstanding albedo of 0.84 and 0.92, respectively. The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link strongly disagrees with the result obtained by the space-based observatory and assumes a standard albedo for carbonaceous asteroids of 0.057 and calculates a much larger diameter of 15.4 kilometers, as the lower the body's albedo (reflectivity), the larger its diameter at a constant absolute magnitude (brightness).
The minor planet was named by Milorad Protić after his professor Vojislav Mišković (1892–1976), first director of the Belgrade Observatory and founder of the Astronomical Institute at SANU. Naming citation was published on 7 March 1985 (M.P.C. 9477).