Discovered by J. Wagner MPC designation 3045 Alois Discovered 8 January 1984 Orbits Sun Discovery site Anderson Mesa Station | Discovery date 8 January 1984 Minor planet category main-belt · (outer) Absolute magnitude 11.4 Discoverer Joe Wagner Asteroid group Asteroid belt | |
Named after Alois T. Stuczynski
(discoverer's family) Alternative names 1984 AW · 1954 QD
1965 QD · 1971 SB3
1982 SY3 People also search for 3044 Saltykov, 3070 Aitken, 3065 Sarahill | ||
3045 Alois, provisional designation 1984 AW, is a carbonaceous asteroid from the outer region of the asteroid belt, approximately 26 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered by the astronomer Joe Wagner at Lowell's Anderson Mesa Station in Flagstaff, Arizona, on 8 January 1984.
The C-type body is also classified as a X-type asteroid by Pan-STARRS' large-scale survey. It orbits the Sun at a distance of 2.8–3.5 AU once every 5 years and 6 months (2,023 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.11 and an inclination of 3° with respect to the ecliptic. The first precovery was taken at Palomar Observatory in 1951, extending the asteroid's observation arc by 33 years prior to its discovery.
A rotational light-curve of this asteroid was obtained from photometric observations made at the U.S. Palomar Transient Factory, California, in November 2010. It gave a rotation period of 7000375330000000000♠3.7533±0.0058 hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.18 in magnitude (U=2).
According to the space-based surveys by the Japanese Akari satellite and NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, the asteroid measures 23.5 and 27.5 kilometers in diameter, respectively, and has a corresponding albedo of 0.095 and 0.059. The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo for carbonaceous asteroids of 0.057 and calculates a diameter of 26.6 kilometers.
The minor planet was named by the discoverer in memory of his grandfather, Alois T. Stuczynski. Naming citation was published on 7 March 1985 (M.P.C. 9479).