Discovered by E. W. Elst MPC designation 6189 Völk Discovered 2 March 1989 Discoverer Eric Walter Elst Discovery site La Silla Observatory | Discovery date 2 March 1989 Minor planet category main-belt · Flora Orbits Sun Asteroid family Flora family Asteroid group Asteroid belt | |
Named after Elisabeth Völk
(ESO staff member) Alternative names 1989 EY2 · 1980 TY4
5489 T-2 People also search for Sun, 8 Flora, 915 Cosette, 967 Helionape, 3412 Kafka, 428 Monachia | ||
6189 Völk, provisional designation 1989 EY2, is a stony Flora asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 5 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 2 March 1989, by Belgian astronomer Eric Elst at ESO's La Silla Observatory in northern Chile.
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 2.0–2.6 AU once every 3 years and 6 months (1,277 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.14 and an inclination of 6° with respect to the ecliptic. The first precovery was taken at Palomar Observatory in 1973, extending the asteroid's observation arc by 16 years prior to its discovery.
Constructed from photometric observations in September 2015, a rotational light-curve was obtained by American astronomer Robert Stevens at the Center for Solar System Studies in California. It showed a well-defined rotation period of 7000289600000000000♠2.896±0.001 hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.18 in magnitude (U=3).
According to the survey carried out by the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, the asteroid measures 4.0 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an outstandingly high albedo of 0.44, while the Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link (CALL) assumes an albedo of 0.24 – in accordance with the family's largest member and namesake, 8 Flora – and calculates a diameter of 5.2 kilometers. The body's S-type spectrum has also been determined in the large-scale survey performed by Pan-STARRS.
The minor planet was named for Elisabeth Völk (b. 1946), administrative staff member at ESO's headquarters in Germany, in charge of the ESO Schmidt plates archive, who became a good friend of the discoverer. The naming was independently suggested by astronomer and author of the Dictionary of Minor Planets, Lutz Schmadel. Naming citation was published on 15 February 1995 (M.P.C. 24766).