Discovery date 21 November 1992 Named after Camarillo Obs. (670) Minor planet category Amor · NEO Discovered 21 November 1992 Discovery site Palomar Observatory | MPC designation 5653 Camarillo Alternative names 1992 WD5 Orbital period 877 days Orbits Sun Asteroid group Amor asteroid | |
Discovered by E. F. Helin
K. Lawrence Discoverers Kenneth J. Lawrence, Eleanor F. Helin Similar 1980 Tezcatlipoca, 1627 Ivar, Sun | ||
5653 Camarillo, provisional designation 1992 WD5, is a stony asteroid classified as near-Earth object and Amor asteroid, approximately 1.5 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered by American astronomers Eleanor Helin and Kenneth J. Lawrence at the U.S. Palomar Observatory on 21 November 1992.
The S-type asteroid is also classified as a Sr-subtype, a transitional group to the R-type asteroids. It orbits the Sun at a distance of 1.2–2.3 AU once every 2 years and 5 months (878 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.30 and an inclination of 7° with respect to the ecliptic. The first precovery was taken at the Australian Siding Spring Observatory in 1974, extending the near-Earth asteroid's observation arc by 18 years prior to its discovery. It has an Earth minimum orbit intersection distance, MOID, of 0.2834 AU (42,400,000 km), or 110 lunar distances.
Between 1995 and 2015, several photometric light-curve analysis gave it a well-defined rotation period of 4.834 hours with a brightness amplitude in the range of 0.4–0.85 in magnitude. According to the surveys carried out by NASA's space-based Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent NEOWISE mission, the asteroid has an albedo between 0.21 and 0.25 with a corresponding diameter of 1.53 to 1.57 kilometers.
The minor planet was named after the Camarillo Observatory (670), located in the Californian town of Camarillo, which was named after Adolfo Camarillo (1864–1958), a well known regional rancher. The first discoverer is a former town resident. Naming citation was published on 4 August 2001 (M.P.C. 43189).