Discovery date 24 September 1960 Alternative names 4600 P-L · 1988 RG11 Discovered 24 September 1960 Asteroid group Asteroid belt | MPC designation 6805 Abstracta Orbits Sun | |
Discovered by C. J. van HoutenI. van HoutenT. Gehrels Named after Astronomy and Astrophysics Abstracts People also search for 6522 Aci, 3480 Abante, 5547 Acadiau | ||
6805 Abstracta, provisional designation 4600 P-L, is a carbonaceous Themistian asteroid and slow rotator from the outer region of the asteroid belt, approximately 10 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 24 September 1960, by Dutch astronomer couple Ingrid and Cornelis van Houten at Leiden, on photographic plates taken by Dutch–American astronomer Tom Gehrels at the U.S. Palomar Observatory in California.
The dark C-type asteroid is a member of the Themis family, a dynamical family of outer-belt asteroids with nearly coplanar ecliptical orbits. It orbits the Sun at a distance of 2.7–3.7 AU once every 5 years and 8 months (2,079 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.16 and an inclination of 2° with respect to the ecliptic. The first precovery was taken at Palomar Observatory in 1949, extending the asteroid's observation arc by 11 years prior to its discovery.
A rotational light-curve was obtained at the U.S. Palomar Transient Factory from photometric observation made in September 2011. It showed an exceptionally long rotation period of 7002152183400000000♠152.1834±0.8953 hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.78 in magnitude (U=2).
According to the NEOWISE mission of NASA's space-based Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, the asteroid measures 11.9 kilometers in diameter and its surface has a low albedo of 0.09. The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a typical albedo for carbonaceous asteroids of 0.08 and calculates a somewhat smaller diameter of 8.4 kilometers.
The designation "P-L" stands for Palomar–Leiden, named after Palomar Observatory and Leiden Observatory, which collaborated on the fruitful Palomar–Leiden survey in the 1960s. Gehrels used Palomar's Samuel Oschin telescope (also known as the 48-inch Schmidt Telescope), and shipped the photographic plates to Ingrid and Cornelis van Houten at Leiden Observatory. The trio are credited with the discovery of several thousand minor planets.
The minor planet was named for the astronomical bibliography Astronomy and Astrophysics Abstracts (AAA). Since it was founded under the auspices of the International Astronomical Union in 1969, it has systematically described, documented and indexed more than half a millions astronomical and astrophysical documents and produced more than 60 volumes. Head of AAA was German astronomer Lutz Schmadel, also known for his Dictionary of Minor Planet Names, and after whom the minor planet 2234 Schmadel is named. Naming citation was published on 1 June 1996 (M.P.C. 27331).