Discovered by E. Bowell MPC designation 3850 Peltier Discovered 7 October 1986 Discoverer Edward L. G. Bowell Discovery site Anderson Mesa Station | Discovery date 7 October 1986 Minor planet category main-belt · Flora Orbits Sun Asteroid family Vesta family Asteroid group Asteroid belt | |
Named after Leslie Peltier (astronomer) Alternative names 1986 TK2 · 1949 PC
1969 OC1 · 1979 OX13
1982 OW Similar Asteroid belt, Solar System, Sun, 3908 Nyx, Flora family | ||
3850 Peltier, provisional designation 1986 TK2, is a Florian asteroid and suspected interloper from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 4 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 7 October 1986, by American astronomer Edward Bowell at Lowell's Anderson Mesa Station, near Flagstaff, Arizona. It is named for astronomer Leslie Peltier.
Description
In the SMASS taxonomy, Peltier is a V-type asteroid but possesses the orbital characteristics of a member of the Flora family, which is one of the largest groups of stony S-type asteroids in the main-belt. It is therefore thought to be an unrelated interloper that does not origin from the Flora family's parent body. Peltier orbits the Sun at a distance of 1.9–2.6 AU once every 3 years and 4 months (1,220 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.16 and an inclination of 5° with respect to the ecliptic. In 1949, it was first identified as 1949 PC at Johannesburg. The body's observation arc begins at Crimea-Nauchnij in 1979, when it was identified as 1979 OX13, 10 years prior to its official discovery observation at Anderson Mesa.
A rotational light-curve of Peltier was obtained by Czech astronomer Petr Pravec at Ondřejov Observatory in October 2006. Lightcurve analysis gave a rotation period of 2.4287 hours with a brightness variation of 0.09 magnitude (U=2). In December 2013, photometric observations by Australian amateur astronomer Julian Oey gave a concurring period of 2.4289 hours and an amplitude of 0.10 magnitude (U=3).
Peltier has not been observed by any space-based surveys such as the Infrared Astronomical Satellite IRAS, the Japanese Akari satellite, or NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent NEOWISE mission. The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo for V-type asteroids of 0.40 and calculates a diameter of 4.00 kilometers using an absolute magnitude of 13.6.
This minor planet was named in memory of American amateur astronomer Leslie Peltier (1900–1980), who has discovered 12 comets and several novae including Nova Herculis 1963. Naming citation was provided by David H. Levy and published by the MPC on 20 May 1989 (M.P.C. 14633).