Discovery date 24 September 1960 Minor planet category main-belt Discovered 24 September 1960 Asteroid family Flora family Asteroid group Asteroid belt | MPC designation 4065 Meinel Orbital period 1,247 days Orbits Sun Discovery site Palomar Observatory | |
Discovered by C. J. van Houten
I. van Houten
T. Gehrels Named after Aden Meinel
(astronomer) Alternative names 2820 P-L · 1976 JF6
1986 GQ1 Discoverers Tom Gehrels, Cornelis Johannes van Houten, Ingrid van Houten-Groeneveld | ||
4065 Meinel, provisional designation 2820 P-L, is an asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 4 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 24 September 1960, by Dutch astronomer couple Ingrid and Cornelis van Houten on photographic plates taken by Dutch–American astronomer Tom Gehrels at Palomar Observatory, California.
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 2.1–2.4 AU once every 3 years and 5 months (1,247 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.08 and an inclination of 5° with respect to the ecliptic. The first precovery was taken at the discovering observatory in 1953, extending the asteroid's observation arc by 7 years prior to its discovery.
According to the survey carried out by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent NEOWISE mission, the asteroid measures 3.87 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo of 0.270. As of 2016, the asteroid's composition, shape and rotation period remains unknown.
The survey designation "P-L" stands for Palomar–Leiden, named after Palomar and Leiden Observatory, which collaborated on the fruitful Palomar–Leiden survey in the 1960s. Gehrels used Palomar's Samuel Oschin telescope (also known as the 48-inch Schmidt Telescope), and shipped the photographic plates to Ingrid and Cornelis van Houten at Leiden Observatory where astrometry was carried out. The trio are credited with the discovery of several thousand minor planets.
The asteroid is named in honour of the American physicist and astronomer Aden Meinel (1922–2011). Naming citation was published on 18 February 1992 (M.P.C. 19695).