Discovered by M. F. Wolf MPC designation 468 Lina Minor planet category main-belt · Themis Orbits Sun Asteroid family Themis family | Discovery date 18 January 1901 Named after (household employee) Discovered 18 January 1901 Discoverer Max Wolf Asteroid group Asteroid belt | |
Alternative names 1901 FZ · A915 PA
A918 EB Discovery site Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory Similar 417 Suevia, 509 Iolanda, 528 Rezia, 499 Venusia, 471 Papagena | ||
Asteroid 468 lina prograde rotation 3 hours of tracking
468 Lina, provisional designation 1901 FZ, is a dark Themistian asteroid from the outer region of the asteroid belt, approximately 60 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 18 January 1901, by German astronomer Max Wolf at Heidelberg Observatory in southwest Germany. Lina was named for the housemaid of the discoverer's family.
Contents
Description
Lina is a core member of the Themis family, an ancient population of carbonaceous outer-belt asteroids with nearly coplanar ecliptical orbits. It has been classified as a CPF and P-type by Tholen and NEOWISE, respectively. It orbits the Sun at a distance of 2.5–3.8 AU once every 5 years and 6 months (2,025 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.20 and an inclination of 0.4° with respect to the ecliptic. Lina was first observed at Heidelberg a few days prior to its official discovery observation. The body's observation arc begins with its identification as 1915 PA at Heidelberg in 1915, or 14 years after its official discovery observation.
In December 2006, a rotational light curve of Lina was obtained by American astronomer Robert Buchheim at Altimira Observatory (G76) in California. Light-curve analysis gave a rotation period of 16.33 hours with a brightness variation of 0.15 magnitude (U=3). Its odd light curve shows multiple peaks, contrary to the classically shaped double-peaks seen in bimodal light curves, that have two maximums and two minimums per rotation. Lina's unusual triple-peak shape made it difficult to fit a period. Other photometric observations were taken by Edward Tedesco in the 1970s (8.3 hours; Δ mag; U=1), by Pierre Antonini and Raoul Behrend in January 2006 (16.478 hours; Δ0.18 mag; U=2), and by Scott Marks and Michael Fauerbach in February 2007 (16.54 hours; Δ0.13 mag; U=2).
According to the space-based surveys carried out by the Infrared Astronomical Satellite IRAS, the Japanese Akari satellite, the Spitzer Space Telescope, and NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent NEOWISE mission, Lina measures between 58.60 and 69.34 kilometers in diameter, and its surface has an albedo between 0.043 and 0.06. The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link still adopts the results obtained by IRAS, that is an albedo of 0.043 and a diameter of 69.34 kilometers at an absolute magnitude of 9.83, while more recent results by NEOWISE and Spitzer tend toward a higher albedo of 0.06 and a shorter diameter of 58.60 and 59.7 kilometer, respectively. Sptizer's spectra of Lina shows an emissivity plateau in the wavelength range of 9 to 12 μm, which is indicative of silicates.
This minor planet was named for "Lina", a domestic housemaid of the discoverer's family at Heidelberg. The members of Max Wolf's household figure prominently in the names of his discoveries, but background information on the name's origin behind most of them have been lost. Wolf also named 482 Petrina and 483 Seppina after the houshold's two dogs, a practice that was later discouraged by the IAU. Naming citation for Lina was first mentioned in The Names of the Minor Planets by Paul Herget in 1955 (H 51).