Discovered by Y. MizunoT. Furuta Minor planet category main-belt · (inner) Absolute magnitude 12.8 | Discovery date 8 October 1989 Named after Kani (Japanese city) Discovered 8 October 1989 Orbits Sun Asteroid group Asteroid belt | |
Alternative names 1989 TX · 1940 WM1955 VJ · 1974 VH21983 AP1 · A917 TB People also search for Sun, 3814 Hoshi-no-mura, 5333 Kanaya | ||
4265 Kani, provisional designation 1989 TX, is a carbonaceous asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 14 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered by Japanese astronomers Yoshikane Mizuno and Toshimasa Furuta at Kani Observatory () on 8 October 1989.
The C-type asteroid orbits the Sun at a distance of 1.9–2.9 AU once every 3 years and 9 months (1,381 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.20 and an inclination of 4° with respect to the ecliptic. The body's first observation at Crimea-Simeis dates back to 1917, while the first used observation was made at Turku in 1940, extending the asteroid's observation arc by 49 years prior to its discovery.
In October 2008, two rotational light-curves of this asteroid were obtained from photometric observations made at the Golden Hill Observatory in Stourton Caundle and the Palmer Divide Observatory in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The light-curves gave an identical rotation period of 7000572790000000000♠5.7279±0.0001 hours and a brightness variation of 0.75 ± 0.02 in magnitude (U=3/3). Observations at the Palomar Transient Factory and revised shape-models have since confirmed the body's rotation period.
According to the space-based surveys carried out by the Japanese Akari satellite and the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, the asteroid measures 15.7 and 14.2 kilometers in diameter, respectively. Conversely, the Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link calculates a diameter of only 7.5 kilometers, due to an assumed albedo of 0.20, which is untypically high for a carbonaceous asteroid.
The minor planet was named for the Japanese city of Kani, home of the discoverer, located in the countryside of Japan's Gifu Prefecture, approximately 30 kilometers north of Nagoya, the country's third largest city. Kani is situated on the Kiso riverside, which is referred to as the Japan Rhine because of its similarities to the Rhine in Europe. Naming citation was published on 11 March 1990 (M.P.C. 16045).