Discovery date 12 May 1988 Alternative names 1988 JA1 · 1970 OL Observation arc 45.68 yr (16,685 days) Orbits Sun | MPC designation 5430 Luu Discovered 12 May 1988 Asteroid group Asteroid belt | |
Discovered by C. ShoemakerE. M. Shoemaker Discoverers Carolyn S. Shoemaker, Eugene Merle Shoemaker Similar Solar System, Sun, Asteroid belt, 10370 Hylonome, (15760) 1992 QB1 |
5430 Luu, provisional designation 1988 JA1, is a stony Phocaea asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 7 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 12 May 1988, by American astronomer couple Carolyn and Eugene Shoemaker at Palomar Observatory, California.
The S-type asteroid is a member of the Phocaea family. It orbits the Sun at a distance of 1.8–2.9 AU once every 3 years and 8 months (1,328 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.22 and an inclination of 24° with respect to the ecliptic. The first precovery was taken at Crimea–Nauchnij in 1970, extending the asteroid's observation arc by 18 years prior to its discovery.
In April 2006, photometric observations of this asteroid collected by American astronomer Brian D. Warner at his Palmer Divide Station, Colorado, show a rotation period of 7001135500000000000♠13.55±0.02 hours with a brightness variation of 6998600000000000000♠0.06±0.02 magnitude (U=2). A second, tentative light-curve was obtained by French astronomer René Roy in July 2007. It gave a period of 7000444000000000000♠4.44±0.05 hours and an amplitude of 0.05 in magnitude (U=2-).
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 measures 6.5 and 8.3 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo between 0.21 and 0.26. The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes an albedo of 0.23 – derived from 25 Phocaea, the family's most massive member and namesake – and calculates a diameter of 7.6 kilometers.
The minor planet is named in honor of Vietnamese-American astronomer Jane X. Luu (b. 1963) for her research and discovering the first and subsequent members of the Kuiper Belt. She also studied the physical properties of these bodies and the coma of potentially Extinct comets. Naming citation was published on 1 July 1996 (M.P.C. 27459).