Discovered by L. G. Taff MPC designation 4324 Bickel Discovered 24 December 1981 Orbits Sun Discovery site Experimental Test Site | Discovery date 24 December 1981 Minor planet category main-belt · (middle) Absolute magnitude 11.9 Discoverer Laurence G. Taff Asteroid group Asteroid belt | |
Named after Wolf Bickel
(amateur astronomer) Alternative names 1981 YA1 · 1932 UD
1932 WE · 1948 SD
1948 TK2 · 1964 PE
1966 DC · 1972 NF
1973 YR3 · 1985 XX
A924 YC People also search for Sun, 3343 Nedzel, 4329 Miró, 4143 Huziak | ||
4324 Bickel, provisional designation 1981 YA1, is a stony asteroid from the middle region of the asteroid belt, approximately 12 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 24 December 1981, by American astronomer Laurence Taff at Lincoln Laboratory's Experimental Test Site, Socorro, in the U.S. state of New Mexico.
The S-type asteroid orbits the Sun at a distance of 2.0–3.1 AU once every 4 years and 1 month (1,483 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.20 and an inclination of 8° with respect to the ecliptic. The first precovery was taken at Heidelberg Observatory in 1924, extending the asteroid's observation arc by 57 years prior to its discovery.
In September 2001, the first ever conducted photometric observation of this asteroid at the Rozhen Observatory, Bulgaria, rendered a rotational light-curve with a longer-than-average period of 7001265000000000000♠26.5 hours and a brightness variation of 0.63 in magnitude (U=2). A more refined light-curve was obtained in October 2005, by astronomers Raymond Poncy, Laurent Bernasconi and Rui Goncalves, which gave a period of 7001265920000000000♠26.592±0.003 hours with an amplitude of 0.72 in magnitude (U=3).
According to observations by NASA's space-based Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent NEOWISE mission, the asteroid measures 11.7 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo of 0.248, while the Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo for stony asteroids of 0.20 and calculates a slightly larger diameter of 12.4 kilometers, based on an absolute magnitude of 11.9.
The minor planet is named in honor of German amateur astronomer Wolf Bickel (b. 1942) who began observing minor planets at his private Bergisch Gladbach Observatory in 1995. At the time this minor planet was named, he had discovered more than 540 numbered minor planets. Naming citation was published on 22 July 2013 (M.P.C. 84378). Bickel has become Germany's most prolific discoverer of asteroids, ahead of (professional) astronomer Freimut Börngen, the first time in 150 years, that an amateur astronomer is ranking first among the German top discoverers. His total number of discoveries has since increased to more than 600.