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3771 Alexejtolstoj

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Discovered by
  
L. Zhuravleva

MPC designation
  
3771 Alexejtolstoj

Observation arc
  
61.72 yr (22,545 days)

Orbits
  
Sun

Asteroid family
  
Flora family

Discovery date
  
20 September 1974

Minor planet category
  
main-belt · Flora

Discovered
  
20 September 1974

Discoverer
  
Lyudmila Zhuravleva

Asteroid group
  
Asteroid belt

Alternative names
  
1974 SB3 · 1954 QF 1984 SG5

Named after
  
Aleksey Nikolayevich Tolstoy

Discovery site
  
Crimean Astrophysical Observatory

3771 Alexejtolstoj, provisional designation 1974 SB3, is a stony Flora asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 4 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 20 September 1974, by Russian–Ukrainian astronomer Lyudmila Zhuravleva at the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory in Nauchnyj on the Crimean peninsula.

The S-type asteroid is a member of the Flora family, one of the largest groups of stony asteroids in the main-belt. It orbits the Sun at a distance of 1.8–2.6 AU once every 3 years and 4 months (1,212 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.17 and an inclination of 5° with respect to the ecliptic. The first time this asteroid was observerd at Heidelberg Observatory in 1954. However, the observation was not used to extend the body's observation arc.

A fragmentary rotational light-curve was obtained from photometric observation made at the Palomar Transient Factory in California in December 2011. The light-curve gave a provisional rotation period of 7001110942000000000♠11.0942±0.0116 hours with a low brightness amplitude of 0.08 in magnitude (U=1). The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes an albedo of 0.24 – derived from 8 Flora, the largest member and namesake of its orbital family – and calculates a diameter of 3.7 kilometers.

The minor planet was named after Soviet writer and public figure, Aleksey Nikolayevich Tolstoy (1883–1945). Naming citation was published on 19 October 1994 (M.P.C. 24121).

References

3771 Alexejtolstoj Wikipedia