Discovered by Félix Aguilar Obs. MPC designation 3578 Carestia Discovered 11 February 1977 Orbits Sun Discoverer Félix Aguilar Observatory | Discovery date 11 February 1977 Minor planet category main-belt · (outer) Absolute magnitude 10.1 Asteroid group Asteroid belt | |
Named after Reinaldo Carestia(astronomer) Alternative names 1977 CC · 1939 PL1950 LG · 1985 RY Discovery site Carlos U. Cesco Astronomical Station People also search for Sun, 5386 Bajaja, 19079 Hernández | ||
3578 Carestia, provisional designation 1977 CC, is an extremely dark asteroid from the outer region of the asteroid belt, approximately 58 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 11 February 1977, by the staff of the Felix Aguilar Observatory at El Leoncito Complex in San Juan, Argentina.
The carbonaceous C-type asteroid is one of the darkest main-belt asteroids known. It orbits the Sun at a distance of 2.5–3.9 AU once every 5 years and 9 months (2,103 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.21 and an inclination of 21° with respect to the ecliptic. The first precovery was taken at Crimea-Simeis in 1939, extending the asteroid's observation arc by 38 years prior to its discovery.
In September 2008, a rotational light-curve was obtained from photometric observations made by Italian astronomer Federico Manzini at the Stazione Astronomica di Sozzago (A12), Italy. It rendered it a rotation period of 7000993000000000000♠9.93±0.01 hours with a brightness variation of 0.13 in magnitude (U=2). Previously, a fragmentary light-curve from the 1990s, gave a shorter period of 7.1 hours with an amplitude of 0.25 (U=1).
According to the space-based surveys carried out by the Infrared Astronomical Satellite, IRAS, the Japanese Akari satellite, and NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent NEOWISE mission, the asteroid's surface has an exceptionally low albedo between 0.012 and 0.051. Combined with the observation's corresponding absolute magnitude, this results in an inferred diameter of 42.9 to 64.6 kilometers. The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link derives an albedo of 0.02 and a diameter of 59.3 kilometers.
The minor planet was named after of South American astronomer Reinaldo Augusto Carestia (1932–1993), professor of positional astronomy at UNSJ's School of Topography, publisher of 5 star catalogs, and member of the National Committee of Scientific and Technological Research of Chile. For decades, he worked with the Repsold Meridian Circle at the discovering Felix Aguilar Observatory. Naming citation was published on 19 October 1994 (M.P.C. 24120).