Discovered by E. Bowell MPC designation 5677 Aberdonia Discovered 21 September 1987 Discoverer Edward L. G. Bowell Discovery site Anderson Mesa Station | Discovery date 21 September 1987 Minor planet category main-belt · Koronis Orbits Sun Asteroid family Koronis family Asteroid group Asteroid belt | |
Named after University of Aberdeen
(Scottish university) Alternative names 1987 SQ1 · 1973 UL1
1978 WN16 · 1989 AK8 People also search for 3480 Abante, 5175 Ables, 4263 Abashiri | ||
5677 Aberdonia, provisional designation 1987 SQ1, is a stony Koronis asteroid from the outer region of the asteroid belt, approximately 8 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 21 September 1987, by American astronomer Edward Bowell at Lowell's U.S. Anderson Mesa Station in Flagstaff, Arizona.
The S-type asteroid is a member of the Koronis family, a group consisting of about 200 known bodies with nearly ecliptical orbits. It orbits the Sun at a distance of 2.7–3.0 AU once every 4 years and 9 months (1,743 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.06 and an inclination of 2° with respect to the ecliptic. The first precovery was obtained at Palomar Observatory in 1954, extending the asteroid's observation arc by 33 years prior to its discovery.
In October 2011, a rotational light-curve was obtained from photometric observations at the U.S. Palomar Transient Factory in California. The light-curve showed a rotation period of 7000508130000000000♠5.0813±0.0410 hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.20 in magnitude (U=2). According to the NEOWISE mission of NASA's space-based Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, the asteroid measures 8.8 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo of 0.25, while the Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes an albedo of 0.24 and calculates a diameter of 8.2 kilometers.
The minor planet was named for the Scottish University of Aberdeen on its 500th anniversary in 1995. James Clerk Maxwell and George Paget Thomson are the university's best known former holders of chairs of natural philosophy. The university is also known for its first chair of medicine in the English-speaking world, and for having taught astronomy already in the late 16th century. Naming citation was published on 15 February 1995 (M.P.C. 24765).