Discovered by T. Kojima MPC designation 4949 Akasofu Discovered 29 November 1988 | Discovery date 29 November 1988 Orbits Sun Asteroid group Asteroid belt | |
Alternative names 1988 WE · 1978 YE1981 RL5 · 1981 SV6 People also search for Sun, 4576 Yanotoyohiko | ||
4949 Akasofu, provisional designation 1988 WE, is a stony Flora asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, about 5 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered by Japanese amateur astronomer Takuo Kojima at the YGCO Chiyoda Station in Japan on 29 November 1988.
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 1.9–2.7 AU once every 3 years and 5 months (1,251 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.17 and an inclination of 5° with respect to the ecliptic. The first precovery was obtained at the Purple Mountain Observatory in 1978, extending the asteroid's observation arc by 10 years prior to its discovery.
According to the survey carried out by the NEOWISE mission of NASA's space-based Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, the asteroid measures 4.5 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo of 0.32, 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 diameter of 5.7 kilometers, based on an absolute magnitude of 13.4.
In October 2005, a rotational light-curve of this asteroid was obtained from photometric observations made by David Higgins at Hunters Hill Observatory, Australia. It showed a rotation period of 7000267980000000000♠2.6798±0.0002 hours with a brightness variation of 0.10 in magnitude (U=3). Observations by Czech astronomer Petr Pravec in March 2007, gave another well-defined and concurring light-curve with a period of 7000268000000000000♠2.6800±0.0003 hours and an amplitude of 0.15 in magnitude (U=3).
The minor planet was named in honor of Japanese-born geophysicist Syun-Ichi Akasofu (b. 1930), professor at University of Alaska Fairbanks. He was the director of the International Arctic Research Center from 1998 to 2007, and is known for studies of the aurora borealis. Naming citation was published on 30 March 2010 (M.P.C. 69491).