Discovered by L. V. Zhuravleva MPC designation 4936 Butakov Discovered 22 October 1985 Asteroid group Asteroid belt | Discovery date 22 October 1985 Orbits Sun | |
Alternative names 1985 UY4 · 1978 TK41978 VH12 People also search for Sun, 8 Flora, 915 Cosette, 967 Helionape | ||
4936 Butakov, provisional designation 1985 UY4, is a stony Flora asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, about 5 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 22 October 1985, by Soviet–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 5 months (1,254 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.13 and an inclination of 6° with respect to the ecliptic. The first precovery was obtained at the U.S. Goethe Link Observatory in 1950, extending the asteroid's observation arc by 35 years prior to its discovery.
According to the survey carried out by NEOWISE mission of NASA's space-based Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, the asteroid measures 4.5 and 4.9 kilometers in diameter and its surface has a high albedo of 0.36 and 0.43, respectively, while the Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes an intermediate albedo of 0.24 – which derives from 8 Flora, the largest member and namesake of this orbital family – and calculates a somewhat larger diameter of 5.4 kilometers.
In 2007, a rotational light-curves of this asteroid was obtained at the Carbuncle Hill Observatory which gave a rotation period of 7001138280000000000♠13.828±0.001 hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.14 in magnitude (U=2). Two more light-curves were obtained from photometric observations made at the U.S. Palomar Transient Factory in January and February 2014. They showed a rotation period of 7001192000000000000♠19.200±0.380 and 7001139078000000000♠13.9078±0.3029 hours, respectively, with a corresponding brightness variation of 0.11 and 0.08 in magnitude (U=2/2).
The minor planet was named in memory of Russian admiral Grigory Butakov (1820–1882), who fought in the Crimean War. In 1856, when the war ended, he became Rear admiral of the Black Sea Fleet and Naval Governor of Nikolaev and Sevastopol. The minor planet 2121 Sevastopol is named after the city on the Crimean peninsula. Butakov is widely credited as being the father of steam-powered ship tactics during the 19th century. Naming citation was published on 4 May 1999 (M.P.C. 34620).