Discovered by C. Torres MPC designation 2518 Rutllant Discovered 22 March 1974 Discoverer Carlos Torres Discovery site Cerro El Roble Station | Discovery date 22 March 1974 Minor planet category main-belt · Flora Orbits Sun Asteroid family Flora family Asteroid group Asteroid belt | |
Named after Federico Alcina (astronomer) Alternative names 1974 FG · 1974 HU
1978 NA3 Similar Sun, 8 Flora, 9917 Keynes | ||
2518 Rutllant, provisional designation 1974 FG, is a stony Flora asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 4 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered by Chilean astronomer Carlos Torres at the Cerro El Roble Station of the National Astronomical Observatory in Chile, on 22 March 1974.
The S-type asteroid is a member of the Flora family, one of the largest groups of stony asteroids in the main-belt. It orbits the Sun at a distance of 1.9–2.7 AU once every 3 years and 6 months (1,281 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.17 and an inclination of 6° with respect to the ecliptic.of 1.9–2.7 AU once every 3 years and 6 months (1,281 days). Its orbit shows an eccentricity of 0.17 and an inclination of 6 degrees from the plane of the ecliptic. The first precovery was taken at Goethe Link Observatory in 1954, extending the asteroid's observation arc by 20 years prior to its discovery.
A rotational light-curve was obtained by American astronomer Brian Warner at the U.S. Palmer Divide Observatory (716), Colorado, in October 2010. The light-curve gave a well-defined period of 7000365100000000000♠3.651±0.001 hours with a relatively low brightness variation of 0.12 in magnitude (U=3). According to the survey carried out by the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, the asteroid has an outstandingly high albedo of 0.77 with a diameter of 3.2 kilometer, while the Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link (CALL) assumes an albedo of 0.24, derived from the Flora family's largest member and namesake, the asteroid 8 Flora. Consequently, CALL calculates a much larger diameter of 5.9 kilometer, as the lower the albedo (reflectivity), the larger the body's diameter at a constant absolute magnitude (brightness).
The minor planet was named in memory of Spanish-born astronomer Federico Alcina (1904–1971), director of the Chilean National Astronomical Observatory (OAN), and professor of mathematics at Federico Santa María Technical University. He was instrumental for the development of Chilean astronomy, and responsible for a number of critical agreements and decisions, such as moving OAN from Lo Espejo to its current location, for the installment of the Maipú Radio Observatory upon an agreement with UF, for another agreement with UChicago, University of Texas, and later AURA — that resulted in the setup of the CTIO, as well as for an agreement with the former Soviet Academy of Sciences that lead to the building of the Cerro El Roble Station, where this minor planet was discovered. Naming citation was published on 26 March 1986 (M.P.C. 10545).