Discovered by H. Thiele MPC designation 797 Montana Discovered 17 November 1914 Orbits Sun Discovery site Hamburg Observatory | Discovery date 17 November 1914 Minor planet category main-belt · (middle) Absolute magnitude 10.34 Asteroid group Asteroid belt | |
Named after Latin for "mountain village"(discovering observatory) Alternative names 1914 VR · 1953 JG1957 MG · A898 WA Similar 528 Rezia, 540 Rosamunde, 679 Pax, 509 Iolanda, 441 Bathilde | ||
797 Montana, provisional designation 1914 VR, is a stony asteroid from the middle region of the asteroid belt, approximately 22 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 17 November 1914, by Danish astronomer Holger Thiele at Bergedorf Observatory in Hamburg, Germany.
The S-type asteroid orbits the Sun at a distance of 2.4–2.7 AU once every 4.04 years (1,474 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.06 and an inclination of 5° with respect to the ecliptic. The first identification at Heidelberg dates back to 1898 (A898 WA / 1898 WA), while the asteroid's observation arc begins two months after its discovery with the first used observation made at Bergedorf in 1915.
Between 2003 and 2007, three rotational light-curves were obtained from photometric observations made by amateur astronomers René Roy, Horacio Correia, Laurent Bernasconi, and Richard Ditteon. All three light-curves gave a well-defined rotation period of 4.55 hours with a brightness variation between 0.32 and 0.41 in magnitude (U=3/3/3).
According to the space-based surveys carried out by the Japanese Akari satellite and NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent NEOWISE mission, the asteroid's surface has an albedo of 0.28–0.35 and its diameter measures between 19.2 and 21.9 kilometers, while the Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo for stony asteroids of 0.20 and calculates a somewhat larger diameter of 25.4 kilometers, as the lower the albedo, the larger the body's diameter at a constant absolute magnitude.
The minor planet was named in honor of the Bergedorf Observatory, its first ever made discovery. "Montana" means "mountain village" in Latin and literally translates to "Bergedorf"in German (H 79).