Discovery date 13 May 1971 Minor planet category main-belt · (outer) Orbits Sun Asteroid group Asteroid belt | MPC designation 8967 Calandra Discovered 13 May 1971 | |
Discovered by C. J. van HoutenI. van Houten-G.T. Gehrels Named after Miliaria calandra(endangered bird) Alternative names 4878 T-1 · 1978 RM111992 EH15 People also search for Sun, 9511 Klingsor, 11767 Milne | ||
8967 Calandra, provisional designation 4878 T-1, is a carbonaceous asteroid from the outer region of the asteroid belt, approximately 9 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 13 May 1971, by Dutch astronomer couple Ingrid and Cornelis van Houten at Leiden Observatory, on photographic plates taken by Dutch–American astronomer Tom Gehrels at the U.S Palomar Observatory, California.
The dark C-type asteroid orbits the Sun at a distance of 2.7–3.4 AU once every 5 years and 4 months (1,952 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.12 and an inclination of 10° with respect to the ecliptic. No precoveries were taken prior to its discovery.
In 2011, a photometric light-curve analysis at the U.S. Palomar Transient Factory, California, rendered a rotation period of 7000524270000000000♠5.2427±0.0036 hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.58 in magnitude (U=2). According to the survey carried out by the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, the asteroid measures 8.4 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo of 0.17. The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo for carbonaceous asteroids of 0.057 and hence calculates a larger diameter of 10.2 kilometers.
The survey designation "T-1" stands for the first Palomar–Leiden Trojan survey, named after the fruitful collaboration of the Palomar and Leiden Observatory in the 1960s and 1970s. Gehrels used Palomar's Samuel Oschin telescope (also known as the 48-inch Schmidt Telescope), and shipped the photographic plates to Cornelis and Ingrid van Houten at Leiden Observatory where astrometry was carried out. The trio of astronomers are credited with the discovery of 4,620 minor planets.
The minor planet is named for the passerine bird, Miliaria calandra, also known as corn bunting. As of 2015, it is listed as an endangered species on the European Red List of Birds. Naming citation was published on 2 February 1999 (M.P.C. 33794).