Discovered by E. Bowell MPC designation 7553 Buie Alternative names 1981 FG · 1988 AJ3 Discovered 30 March 1981 Orbits Sun Discovery site Anderson Mesa Station | Discovery date 30 March 1981 Named after Marc Buie
(astronomer) Minor planet category main-belt · (inner) Absolute magnitude 14.4 Discoverer Edward L. G. Bowell Asteroid group Asteroid belt | |
7553 Buie, provisional designation 1981 FG, is a stony asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 3.5 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 30 March 1981, by American astronomer Edward Bowell at Lowell Observatory's Anderson Mesa Station in Flagstaff, Arizona.
The S-type asteroid orbits the Sun at a distance of 2.0–2.7 AU once every 3 years and 8 months (1,350 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.15 and an inclination of 3° with respect to the ecliptic. The first precovery was taken at Palomar Observatory in 1950, extending the asteroid's observation arc by 31 years prior to its discovery.
In September 2012, a rotational light-curve was obtained for this asteroid from photometric observations made at the Palomar Transient Factory, California. In the R-band, it gave a rotation period of 7000424179999999999♠4.2418±0.0071 hours with a brightness variation of 0.51 in magnitude, while in the S-Band the period was 7000424530000000000♠4.2453±0.0071 hours with an amplitude of 0.53 in magnitude (U=2/2). A high brightness amplitude typically indicates a non-spherical shape.
According to the survey carried out by the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, the asteroid measures 3.4 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo of 0.259, while the Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo for stony asteroids of 0.20 and calculates a diameter of 3.9 kilometers.
The minor planet was named in honor of Marc William Buie (b. 1958), an astronomer at the discovering Lowell Observatory and a prolific discoverer of minor planets including several trans-Neptunian objects. His contributions to planetary astronomy also include research on the moons of Pluto and the development of widely used astronomical software. Naming citation was published on 28 July 1999 (M.P.C. 35486).