Discovered by U. QuadriL. Strabla MPC designation 6460 Bassano Discovered 26 October 1992 | Discovery date 26 October 1992 Orbits Sun Asteroid group Asteroid belt | |
Named after Bassano Bresciano(Italian village) Alternative names 1992 UK6 · 1985 TR21989 YM6 Discovery site Astronomical Observatory of Bassano Bresciano Discoverers Luca Strabla, Ulisse Quadri People also search for Sun, 8 Flora, 915 Cosette, 967 Helionape, 3412 Kafka, 428 Monachia | ||
6460 Bassano, provisional designation 1992 UK6, is a stony Flora asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 4.5 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 26 October 1992, by Italian amateur astronomers Ulisse Quadri and Luca Strabla at the Bassano Bresciano Observatory in northern Italy.
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 2.0–2.5 AU once every 3 years and 5 months (1,239 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.11 and an inclination of 3° with respect to the ecliptic. The first precovery was obtained at the French Caussols Observatory in 1985, extending the asteroid's observation arc by 7 years prior to its discovery.
Two rotational light-curve of this asteroid were obtained from photometric observations at the U.S. Palomar Transient Factory in August 2012. The light-curves rendered a rotation period of 7000291450000000000♠2.9145±0.0034 and 7000291310000000000♠2.9131±0.0034 hours with a brightness variation of 0.38 and 0.29 in magnitude, respectively (U=2/2).
According to the survey carried out by the NEOWISE mission of NASA's space-based Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, the asteroid measures 4.3 kilometers in diameter and its surface has a high albedo of 0.39. The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a lower albedo of 0.24 – derived from 8 Flora, the principal body and namesake of its orbital family – and hence calculates a larger diameter of 4.9 kilometers.
The minor planet was named for the location of the discovering observatory, Bassano Bresciano, an ancient village in northern Italy. The historic village was under Longobard and Frank control during the early Middle Ages, and then ruled by the House of Sforza and the Venice republic. In the 16th century the former marshland was regained by the two Italian agronomists Camillo Tarello and Agostino Gallo. Monuments in the village include Luzzago's palace and Brunelli's villa. Its church has a Via Crucis credited to the school of Venetian painter Giovanni Tiepolo, one of the great Old Masters of that period. Naming citation was published on 9 September 1995 (M.P.C. 25655).