Discovery date 29 December 1997 Minor planet category main-belt · (middle) Discovered 29 December 1997 Orbits Sun | MPC designation 31192 Aigoual Observation arc 37.34 yr (13,640 days) Absolute magnitude 13.9 Discovered by Pises Observatory Asteroid group Asteroid belt | |
Alternative names 1997 YH16 · 1978 UB41994 CG10 · 1996 RW262001 QS93 | ||
31192 Aigoual, provisional designation 1997 YH16, is a carbonaceous asteroid from the middle region of the asteroid belt, about 7 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 29 December 1997, by staff members of the Pises Observatory in southern France.
The C-type asteroid orbits the Sun at a distance of 2.2–3.3 AU once every 4 years and 7 months (1,668 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.19 and an inclination of 3° with respect to the ecliptic. Aigoual was first identified as 1978 UB4 at Palomar Observatory in 1978, extending the body's observation arc by 19 years prior to its official discovery observation.
A rotational light-curve of this asteroid was obtained from photometric observations made at the U.S. Palomar Transient Factory in October 2010. The light-curve gave a rotation period of 7000432910000000000♠4.3291±0.0009 hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.56 in magnitude (U=2). The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo for carbonaceous asteroids of 0.057 and calculates a diameter of 7.3 kilometers, based on an absolute magnitude of 14.4.
The minor planet was named after Mont Aigoual, in the Cévennes National Park, where the discovering observatory is located. It is the highest mountain of the Cévennes in the Massif Central, France. Naming citation was published on 28 March 2002 (M.P.C. 45237).