Discovered by E. Bowell MPC designation 3192 A'Hearn Minor planet category main-belt · (inner) Orbital period 1,340 days Aphelion 2.78 m Discoverer Edward L. G. Bowell | Discovery date 30 January 1982 Alternative names 1982 BY1 · 1975 JN Observation arc 41.26 yr (15,069 days) Discovered 30 January 1982 Orbits Sun | |
3192 A'Hearn, provisional designation 1982 BY1, is a carbonaceous asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, about 6 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered by American astronomer Edward Bowell at Lowell's Anderson Mesa Station in Flagstaff, Arizona, on 30 January 1982.
The C-type asteroid orbits the Sun at a distance of 2.0–2.8 AU once every 3 years and 8 months (1,339 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.17 and an inclination of 3° with respect to the ecliptic. The first precovery was obtained at El Leoncito in 1975, extending the asteroid's observation arc by 7 years prior to its discovery.
A rotational light-curve for this asteroid was obtained from photometric observations made by Japanese astronomer Sunao Hasegawa, using the 1.05-meter Schmidt telescope at Kiso Observatory in March 2004. It showed a well-defined rotation period of 3.16 hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.20 in magnitude (U=3). According to the survey carried out by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent NEOWISE mission, the asteroid measures 4.4 kilometers in diameter and its surface has a high albedo of 0.354. The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo for stony asteroids of 0.20 – despite the fact that the body has been classified as a carbonaceous C-type – and calculates a diameter of 5.7 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 13.6.
The minor planet was named for American cometary astronomer and professor of astronomy at CMNS, Michael A'Hearn (b. 1940), known for his contribution to cometary science, especially for his wide-range spectroscopic and spectrophotometric observations. He participated in the space-based EPOXI and IUE mission, which, in 1983, detected for the first time the presence of cometary diatomic sulfur while observing Comet IRAS–Araki–Alcock's spectrum. Naming citation was published on 22 June 1986 (M.P.C. 10848).