Discovered by L. V. Zhuravleva MPC designation 4524 Barklajdetolli Discovered 8 September 1981 Discoverer Lyudmila Zhuravleva Asteroid group Asteroid belt | Discovery date 8 September 1981 Minor planet category main-belt · Flora Orbits Sun Asteroid family Flora family | |
Named after Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly
(Russian Field Marshal) Alternative names 1981 RV4 · 1935 SC1
1935 SN · 1973 FH
1988 RR6 Discovery site Crimean Astrophysical Observatory Similar 192 Nausikaa, 18 Melpomene, 1036 Ganymed, 15 Eunomia, 7 Iris | ||
4524 Barklajdetolli, provisional designation 1981 RV4, is a stony Flora asteroid and an exceptionally slow rotator from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 10 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 8 September 1981, by Russian–Ukrainian astronomer Lyudmila Zhuravleva at the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory in Nauchnyj on the Crimean peninsula.
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 2.0–2.6 AU once every 3 years and 6 months (1,291 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.13 and an inclination of 7° with respect to the ecliptic. The first used precovery was taken at Palomar Observatory in 1953, extending the asteroid's observation arc by 28 years prior to its discovery.
In August 2009, a rotational light-curve for this asteroid was obtained at the U.S. Carbuncle Hill Observatory (912) on Rhode Island. The light-curve gave an exceptionally long rotation period of 1,069 hours with a high brightness amplitude of 1.26 in magnitude (U=2). While the period still may be wrong by a few hundred hours, it is one of the slowest rotating asteroids known to exist.
According to the surveys carried out by the Japanese Akari satellite and NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent NEOWISE mission, the asteroid's surface has a low albedo of 0.05 and 0.10, respectively, while the Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link (CALL) assumes a much higher albedo of 0.24, derived from the Flora family's largest member and namesake, the asteroid 8 Flora. The divergent albedos also translate into different estimates for the body's size. While the space-based surveys find a diameter of 12.1 and 13.6 kilometers, respectively, CALL calculates only 7.1 kilometers, as the higher the body's albedo (reflectivity), the smaller its diameter, at a constant absolute magnitude (brightness).
The minor planet was named in memory of Russian Field Marshal of Scottish descent, Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly (1761–1818). He was Russia's Minister of War and commander-in-chief of its armies during the French invasion of Russia in the Patriotic War of 1812. Naming citation was published on 4 May 1999 (M.P.C. 34620).