Discovery date 8 November 1977 Absolute magnitude 12.24 | MPC designation 2430 Bruce Helin Discovered 8 November 1977 Orbits Sun Asteroid group Asteroid belt | |
Discovered by E. F. HelinE. Shoemaker Named after Bruce Helin(son of discoverer) Alternative names 1977 VC · 1976 JU1A908 WC Discoverers Eugene Merle Shoemaker, Eleanor F. Helin Similar 4015 Wilson–Harrington, Sun, 3554 Amun, Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9, 129P/Shoemaker–Levy | ||
2430 Bruce Helin, provisional designation 1977 VC, is a stony Phocaea asteroid and slow rotator from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, about 12 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered by American astronomers Eleanor Helin and Eugene Shoemaker at the U.S. Palomar Observatory in California, on 8 November 1977.
The S-type asteroid, classified as a Sl-subtype in the SMASS taxonomy, is a member of the Phocaea family. It orbits the Sun at a distance of 1.9–2.9 AU once every 3 years and 8 months (1,326 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.21 and an inclination of 23° with respect to the ecliptic. The body was already imaged at Heidelberg Observatory in 1908. However, the first used precovery was obtained at Crimea–Nauchnij in 1976, extending the asteroid's observation arc by 1 year prior to its discovery.
The first rotational light-curve of this asteroid was obtained from photometric observations by Czech astronomer Petr Pravec in September 2006. The light-curve showed a rotation period of 7002128000000000000♠128 hours with a brightness variation of 0.60 in magnitude (U=2). Later observations rendered a similar rotation period of 129.75 and 129.42 hours, respectively (U=n.a./2).
According to the surveys carried out by the Japanese Akari satellite and NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its NEOWISE mission, the asteroid measures 11.8 and 12.5 kilometers in diameter, and its surface has an albedo of 0.18 and 0.24, respectively. The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link (CALL) assumes an albedo of 0.23 and calculates a diameter of 12.1 kilometers.
The minor planet was named after the son of the discovering astronomer, Bruce Helin, in an expression of gratitude for "the many years he tolerated his mother's preoccupation with extraterrestrial objects". The discoverer has also honoured her daughter-in-law and wife of Bruce, Nancy Coker Helin, by the minor planet 4222 Nancita. Naming citation was published on 13 October 1981 (M.P.C. 6421).