Discovered by LINEAR Discovery date 6 April 1999 Alternative names 1999 GW34 · 1993 RR14 Absolute magnitude 14.8 | Discovery site Lincoln Lab's ETS MPC designation 31641 Cevasco Discovered 6 April 1999 Asteroid group Asteroid belt | |
Discoverer | ||
31641 Cevasco, provisional designation 1999 GW34, is a stony asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 3.3 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 6 April 1999, by the Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research project (LINEAR) at Lincoln Laboratory's Experimental Test Site in Socorro, New Mexico.
The S-type asteroid orbits the Sun at a distance of 2.1–2.8 AU once every 3 years and 10 months (1,390 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.13 and an inclination of 1° with respect to the ecliptic. Cevasco was first identified as 1993 RR14 at ESO's La Silla Observatory in 1993, extending the body's observation arc by 6 years prior to its official discovery observation.
Photometric light-curve observations at the U.S. Palomar Transient Factory in 2010, 2012 and 2014, measured the asteroid's rotation period to be 7000265560000000000♠2.6556±0.1936, 7000281670000000000♠2.8167±0.0127 and 7000282000000000000♠2.820±0.010 hours with a brightness variation of 0.71, 0.48 and 0.54 in magnitude, respectively (U=2). According to the survey carried out by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent NEOWISE mission, Cevasco measures 2.7 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo of 0.311, while the Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo for stony asteroids of 0.20 and calculates a diameter of 3.3 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 14.8.
The minor planet was named in honor of Hannah Olivia Cevasco (b. 2000) finalist in the 2015 Broadcom MASTERS, a math and science competition for middle school students, for her medicine and health sciences project. At the time she attended the St. Charles School in California.