Discovered by N. Chernykh MPC designation 6537 Adamovich Minor planet category main-belt · Flora Orbits Sun Asteroid family Flora family | Discovery date 19 August 1979 Alternative names 1979 QK6 · 1985 JQ Discovered 19 August 1979 Discoverer Nikolai Chernykh Asteroid group Asteroid belt | |
Named after Aleksandr Adamovich
(writer) Discovery site Crimean Astrophysical Observatory Similar 2577 Litva, Sun, 8 Flora | ||
6537 Adamovich, provisional designation 1979 QK6, is a stony Flora asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, about 4.5 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 19 August 1979, by Soviet–Russian astronomer Nikolai Chernykh at the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory, Nauchnyj, on the Crimean peninsula.
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 1.8–2.6 AU once every 3 years and 3 months (1,175 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.20 and an inclination of 4° with respect to the ecliptic.
A fragmentary rotational light-curve was obtained from photometric observation made at the Palomar Transient Factory in California in February 2013. It showed a provisional rotation period of 7000240000000000000♠2.4±0.1 hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.13 in magnitude (U=1).
According to the surveys carried out by the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, the asteroid measures 4.3 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo of 0.17, while the Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link (CALL) assumes an albedo of 0.24 – derived from 8 Flora, the largest member and namesake of its orbital family – and calculates a diameter of 4.5 kilometers.
The minor planet was named in memory of Byelorussian–Russian Aleksandr Mikhajlovich Adamovich (1927–1994), publicist, literary scholar and talented writer, known for his civic responsibility. Naming citation was published on 4 May 1999 (M.P.C. 34624).