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5692 Shirao

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Discovered by
  
K. Endate K. Watanabe

MPC designation
  
5692 Shirao

Discovered
  
23 March 1992

Asteroid family
  
Eunomia family

Asteroid group
  
Asteroid belt

Discovery date
  
23 March 1992

Minor planet category
  
main-belt · Eunomia

Orbits
  
Sun

Discovery site
  
Kitami Observatory

Named after
  
Motomaro Shirao (geologist, photographer)

Alternative names
  
1992 FR · 1949 KK 1966 FO · 1966 FS 1970 CH · 1976 SN2 1979 HT2 · 1979 HV1 1985 UW2 · 1989 SO9

Discoverers
  
Kin Endate, Kazuro Watanabe

People also search for
  
Sun, 4971 Hoshinohiroba

5692 Shirao, provisional designation 1992 FR, is a stony Eunomia asteroid from the middle region of the asteroid belt, approximately 9 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 23 March 1992, by Japanese amateur astronomers Kin Endate and Kazuro Watanabe at Kitami Observatory, Hokkaidō, Japan.

The asteroid is a member of the Eunomia family, a large group of stony S-type asteroids and the most prominent family in the intermediate main-belt. It orbits the Sun at a distance of 2.2–3.1 AU once every 4 years and 4 months (1,580 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.18 and an inclination of 12° with respect to the ecliptic. The first used precovery was taken at the U.S. Palomar Observatory in 1955, extending the asteroid's observation arc by 37 years prior to its discovery.

In June 2014, a rotational light-curve for this asteroid was obtained from photometric observations made by American astronomer Brian D. Warner at the U.S. Palmer Divide Observatory in Colorado. It gave a well-defined rotation period of 7000288780000000000♠2.8878±0.0004 hours with a brightness variation of 0.16 in magnitude (U=3). Previous light-curves were obtained by French astronomer René Roy (7000290000000000000♠2.90±0.01 hours, Δ 0.13 mag, U=2) in June 2001, by American astronomer Donald P. Pray (7000288600000000000♠2.886±0.002 hours, Δ 0.12 mag, U=2) in March 2005, and by astronomers Dominique Suys, Hugo Riemis and Jan Vantomme (7000290000000000000♠2.90±0.01 hours, Δ 0.15 mag, U=2+) in September 2006.

According to the surveys carried out by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer and its subsequent NEOWISE mission, the asteroid measures between 9.5 and 9.8 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo of 0.22, while the Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo of 0.21 – derived from 15 Eunomia, the largest member and namesake of this asteroid family – and calculates a diameter of 9.2 kilometers.

The minor planet was named after Motomaro Shirao (b. 1953), a Japanese geologist and astrophotographer, who is known for his photographs of volcanoes and lunar geological features. Naming citation was published on 4 April 1996 (M.P.C. 26930).

References

5692 Shirao Wikipedia