Colonel William A. Phillips

1754 Cunningham, provisional designation 1935 FE, is a Hildian asteroid from the outermost region of the asteroid belt, approximately 80 kilometers in diameter.

It was discovered on 29 March 1935, by Belgian astronomer Eugène Delporte at the Royal Observatory of Belgium in Uccle.[3] It was later named after American astronomer Leland Cunningham.[2]

Orbit and classification

Cunningham is a dark and reddish asteroid and member of the Hilda family, a large group that orbits in resonance with the gas giant Jupiter and are thought to originate from the Kuiper belt. It orbits the Sun in the outermost main-belt at a distance of 3.3–4.6 AU once every 7 years and 10 months (2,859 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.17 and an inclination of 12° with respect to the ecliptic.[1] It was first identified as A904 JB at Heidelberg Observatory in 1904, extending the body's observation arc by 31 years prior to its official discovery observation at Uccle.[3]

Physical characteristics

Rotation period

In July 2015, a rotational lightcurve of Cunningham was obtained from photometric observation by American amateur astronomer Robert Stephens at the Center for Solar System Studies in California. It gave a well-defined rotation period of 7.7416 hours with a brightness variation of 0.17 magnitude (U=3).[9]

A similar period of 7.7398 hours with an amplitude of 0.16 was previously obtained by French and Italian amateur astronomers Pierre Antonini and Silvano Casulli in July 2008 (U=2).[8] Other lightcurves gave a shorter period of 4.285 and 5.16 hours (U=2/n.a.).[7][a]

Diameter and albedo

According to the surveys carried out by the Infrared Astronomical Satellite IRAS and the Japanese Akari satellite, Cunningham measures 79.52 and 83.55 kilometers in diameter, and its surface has an albedo of 0.035 and 0.031, respectively.[5][6] The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link agrees with the results found by IRAS, that is an albedo of 0.035 and a diameter of 79.52 kilometers with on an absolute magnitude of 9.77.[4] Cunningham belongs to a small group asteroids with a spectral P-type in the Tholen classification scheme.[11]

Naming

This minor planet was named in honor of American astronomer Leland Cunningham (1904–1989), who began his career as an assistant to astronomer Fred Whipple (also see 1940 Whipple) at Harvard University in the 1930s and worked at the Leuschner Observatory of University of California during the 1940s and 1950s.[2] The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 20 February 1976 (M.P.C. 3934).[12] Cunningham discovered four minor planets himself and was a prolific computer of cometary orbits and observer of faint comets, including comet Gale, a lost comet he recovered in 1938.[2]

Notes

  1. ^ a b Slyusarev (2012) web: rotation period 5.16±0.01 hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.08 magnitude. Summary figures for (1754) Cunningham at Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link (CALL).

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g "JPL Small-Body Database Browser: 1754 Cunningham (1935 FE)" (2016-11-23 last obs.). Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved 1 July 2017.
  2. ^ a b c d Schmadel, Lutz D. (2007). "(1754) Cunningham". Dictionary of Minor Planet Names. Springer Berlin Heidelberg. p. 140. doi:10.1007/978-3-540-29925-7_1755. ISBN 978-3-540-00238-3.
  3. ^ a b c "1754 Cunningham (1935 FE)". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 20 December 2016.
  4. ^ a b c d "LCDB Data for (1754) Cunningham". Asteroid Lightcurve Database (LCDB). Retrieved 20 December 2016.
  5. ^ a b c d Tedesco, E. F.; Noah, P. V.; Noah, M.; Price, S. D. (October 2004). "IRAS Minor Planet Survey V6.0". NASA Planetary Data System – IRAS-A-FPA-3-RDR-IMPS-V6.0. Bibcode:2004PDSS...12.....T. Retrieved 17 October 2019.
  6. ^ a b c d Usui, Fumihiko; Kuroda, Daisuke; Müller, Thomas G.; Hasegawa, Sunao; Ishiguro, Masateru; Ootsubo, Takafumi; et al. (October 2011). "Asteroid Catalog Using Akari: AKARI/IRC Mid-Infrared Asteroid Survey". Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan. 63 (5): 1117–1138. Bibcode:2011PASJ...63.1117U. doi:10.1093/pasj/63.5.1117. (online, AcuA catalog p. 153)
  7. ^ a b Dahlgren, M.; Lahulla, J. F.; Lagerkvist, C.-I.; Lagerros, J.; Mottola, S.; Erikson, A.; et al. (June 1998). "A Study of Hilda Asteroids. V. Lightcurves of 47 Hilda Asteroids". Icarus. 133 (2): 247–285. Bibcode:1998Icar..133..247D. doi:10.1006/icar.1998.5919. Retrieved 20 December 2016.
  8. ^ a b Behrend, Raoul. "Asteroids and comets rotation curves – (1754) Cunningham". Geneva Observatory. Retrieved 20 December 2016.
  9. ^ a b Stephens, Robert D. (October 2015). "Asteroids Observed from CS3: Results for 1754 Cunningham and 7023 Heiankyo". The Minor Planet Bulletin. 42 (4): 279. Bibcode:2015MPBu...42..279S. ISSN 1052-8091. Retrieved 20 December 2016.
  10. ^ a b Veres, Peter; Jedicke, Robert; Fitzsimmons, Alan; Denneau, Larry; Granvik, Mikael; Bolin, Bryce; et al. (November 2015). "Absolute magnitudes and slope parameters for 250,000 asteroids observed by Pan-STARRS PS1 - Preliminary results". Icarus. 261: 34–47. arXiv:1506.00762. Bibcode:2015Icar..261...34V. doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2015.08.007. S2CID 53493339. Retrieved 20 December 2016.
  11. ^ "JPL Small-Body Database – Query spectral type P (Tholen)". JPL Solar System Dynamics. Retrieved 17 November 2015.
  12. ^ Schmadel, Lutz D. (2009). "Appendix – Publication Dates of the MPCs". Dictionary of Minor Planet Names – Addendum to Fifth Edition (2006–2008). Springer Berlin Heidelberg. p. 221. Bibcode:2009dmpn.book.....S. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-01965-4. ISBN 978-3-642-01964-7.

External links

source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1754_Cunningham