Discovery date 27 September 1987 Absolute magnitude 13.4 | MPC designation 9165 Raup Discovered 27 September 1987 Orbits Sun Asteroid group Asteroid belt | |
Discovered by C. ShoemakerE. Shoemaker Alternative names 1987 SJ3 · 1955 BF11973 UH Discoverers Carolyn S. Shoemaker, Eugene Merle Shoemaker Similar 192 Nausikaa, 18 Melpomene, 1036 Ganymed, 15 Eunomia, 7 Iris | ||
9165 Raup, provisional designation 1987 SJ3, is a stony Hungaria asteroid and exceptionally slow rotator from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 4.7 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 27 September 1987, by American astronomer couple Carolyn and Eugene Shoemaker at the U.S. Palomar Observatory in California.
The bright S-type asteroid is a member of the Hungaria family, which form the innermost dense concentration of asteroids in the Solar System. It orbits the Sun at a distance of 1.8–2.2 AU once every 2 years and 10 months (1,023 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.10 and an inclination of 25° with respect to the ecliptic. The first precovery was taken at the discovering observatory in 1955, extending the asteroid's observation arc by 32 years prior to its discovery.
In September 2015, a rotational light-curve was obtained for this asteroid from photometric observations by U.S. astronomer Brian D. Warner at the Palmer Divide Station, Colorado. It gave a well-defined rotation period of 7003132000000000000♠1320±10 hours with a brightness variation of 1.34 magnitude (U=3-). As of 20116, it is the 3rd slowest rotating minor planet in the Light Curve Data Base (LCDB). Also, the light-curve's high amplitude indicates that the body has a non-spheroidal shape. Brian Warner's 2015-observation supersedes a previously obtained light-curve that gave a significantly shorter period of 7002560000000000000♠560±25 hours with an amplitude of 1.05 magnitude (U=2).
According to the survey carried out by the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, the asteroid measures 4.8 kilometers in diameter and its surface has a high albedo of 0.329, while the Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo for Hungaria asteroids of 0.30, and calculates a diameter of 4.6 kilometers, based on an absolute magnitude of 13.6.
The minor planet was named in honor of American David M. Raup (1933–2015), paleontologist and expert of the fossil record at UChicago. Raup's theories contributed to the knowledge of extinction events and suggested, that the extinction of dinosaurs was part of a cycle of mass extinctions. Naming citation was published on 23 November 1999 (M.P.C. 36947).