Discovered by N. Chernykh MPC designation 3787 Aivazovskij Discovered 11 September 1977 Orbits Sun Asteroid group Asteroid belt | Discovery date 11 September 1977 Minor planet category main-belt · (outer) Absolute magnitude 11.7 Discoverer Nikolai Chernykh | |
Named after Ivan Aivazovsky (painter) Alternative names 1977 RG7 · 1931 DM
1967 RO · 1987 UA3 Discovery site Crimean Astrophysical Observatory People also search for 3409 Abramov, 3884 Alferov | ||
3787 Aivazovskij, provisional designation 1977 RG7, is a stony asteroid from the outer region of the asteroid belt, about 13 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered by Soviet–Russian astronomer Nikolai Chernykh at the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory in Nauchnyj, on the Crimean peninsula, on 11 September 1977.
The S-type asteroid orbits the Sun at a distance of 2.5–3.2 AU once every 4 years and 10 months (1,759 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.13 and an inclination of 12° with respect to the ecliptic. The first precovery was taken at Lowell Observatory in 1931, extending the asteroid's observation arc by 46 years prior to its discovery.
A rotational light-curve of this asteroid was obtained from photometric observations made in March 2008, at the Universidad de Monterry Observatory, Mexico. It showed a well-defined rotation period of 7000297000000000000♠2.97 hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.18 in magnitude (U=3). Two additional observations gave a period of 2.98 and 2.95 hours, respectively (U=n.a./2).
Based on the survey carried out by the NEOWISE mission of NASA's space-based Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, the asteroid measure 12.1 kilometers in diameter and its surface has a high albedo of 0.33, while the Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo for stony asteroids of 0.20, and calculates a diameter 14.9 kilometers, based on an absolute magnitude of 11.5.
The minor planet was named after Russian painter of seascapes, Ivan Aivazovsky (1817–1900), who lived and worked in the Crimean city of Feodosia. The minor planet 1048 Feodosia is named after this place. Naming citation was published on 1 September 1993 (M.P.C. 22499).