Discovered by C. Shoemaker MPC designation 4031 Mueller Minor planet category main-belt · Hungaria Absolute magnitude 13.7 Discoverer Carolyn S. Shoemaker Asteroid group Hungaria family | Discovery date 12 February 1985 Alternative names 1985 CL · 1969 EN1 Discovered 12 February 1985 Orbits Sun Discovery site Palomar Observatory | |
Named after Jean Mueller
(astronomer) Similar Sun, 4179 Toutatis, 5381 Sekhmet, 3554 Amun, Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9 | ||
4031 Mueller, provisional designation 1985 CL, is a Hungaria asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 4 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 12 February 1985, by American astronomer Carolyn Shoemaker at Palomar Observatory, California.
Mueller is a member of the Hungaria family, which form the innermost dense concentration of asteroids in the Solar System. The E-type asteroid is also classified as a X-type by PanSTARRS and by the LCDB. It orbits the Sun at a distance of 1.7–2.1 AU once every 2 years and 8 months (982 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.10 and an inclination of 19° with respect to the ecliptic. The body was first identified as 1969 EN1 at Crimea–Nauchnij on 13 March 1969, yet the observation remained unused for the asteroid's observation arc.
Four rotational light-curves for this asteroid were obtained from photometric observations made by American astronomer Brian D. Warner at his Palmer Divide Observatory (716) between 2008 and 2016. They all gave a concurring, well-defined rotation period of 2.942 to 2.944 hours with a brightness variation between 0.14 and 0.19 magnitude (U=3/3-/3-/3).
According to the survey carried out by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent NEOWISE mission, the asteroid measures 3.9 kilometers in diameter and its surface has a high albedo of 0.389, while the Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes an albedo of 0.30 and calculates a diameter of 5.56 kilometers, based on an absolute magnitude of 13.2.
The minor planet was named after American astronomer Jean Mueller (b. 1950), discoverer of minor planets, comets and supernovae during the course of the Second Palomar Observatory Sky Survey (POSS II) using the Oschin Telescope at Palomar Observatory in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Naming citation was published on 12 December 1989 (M.P.C. 15576).